{"id":50237,"date":"2023-09-05T21:01:10","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T21:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/09\/05\/biden-awards-army-pilot-medal-of-honor-for-vietnam-war-rescue\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:15:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:15:31","slug":"biden-awards-army-pilot-medal-of-honor-for-vietnam-war-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/veterans\/2023\/09\/05\/biden-awards-army-pilot-medal-of-honor-for-vietnam-war-rescue\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden awards Army pilot Medal of Honor for Vietnam War rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Joe Biden awarded the Medal of Honor<\/a> to Capt. Larry Taylor<\/a> on Tuesday, honoring the Army pilot who risked his life during the Vietnam War by flying into heavy enemy fire to save four members of a reconnaissance team from almost certain death as they were about to be overrun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the night of June 18, 1968, then-1st Lt. Taylor flew his Cobra attack helicopter to rescue the men after they had become surrounded by the enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was pitch black. No moon. No stars. No light beyond the glow of Lieutenant Taylor\u2019s cockpit control, when he heard a whisper coming through his radio, \u2018We\u2019re surrounded,\u2019\u201d Biden said, adding, \u201cLieutenant Taylor knew the risks, but he was ready.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"President
President Joe Biden listens to the citation being read before he awards the Medal of Honor to Capt. Larry Taylor, an Army pilot from the Vietnam War who risked his life to rescue a reconnaissance team that was about to be overrun by the enemy, during a ceremony Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Taylor, a Tennessean who is now 81, recalled in an interview last week that he had to figure out how to get the men out, otherwise \u201cthey wouldn\u2019t make it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Hill, one of the four Taylor saved that night, said his actions were what \u201cwe now call thinking outside the box.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hill and the others were on a night mission to track the movement of enemy troops in a village near the Saigon River when they were discovered by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops. An intense firefight ensued and soon they were running out of ammunition. They radioed for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taylor arrived in minutes at the site northeast of what is now Ho Chi Minh City. He asked the team to send up flares to mark their location in the dark. Taylor and a pilot in an accompanying helicopter started firing their ships\u2019 Miniguns and rockets at the enemy, making low-level attack runs and braving intense ground fire for about a half-hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with both helicopters nearly out of ammunition and the enemy continuing to advance, Taylor surveyed the team\u2019s intended escape route to a point near the river and concluded that the men would never make it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had to think of something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\t