By
Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.
DoD
News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON,
Sept. 16, 2014 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel honored two “remarkable”
Americans today as he led the induction of the Army’s two most recent Medal of
Honor recipients into the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes here.
Retired
Army Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie G. Adkins, and Army Specialist Four Donald P.
Sloat -- who received the medal posthumously and was represented by his family
-- were enshrined during the ceremony a day after President Barack Obama
presented the duo with the nation’s highest award for valor.
The
defense secretary was joined in honoring the inductees by Army Undersecretary
Brad R. Carson, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Daniel B. Allyn, and Sergeant
Major of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III, as well as the two Medal of Honor
recipients’ families, friends and fellow Vietnam War veterans.
“We’re
very proud of you,” Hagel said. “This whole country is very proud of you, and I
think President Obama made that very clear yesterday in a very special
recognition at the White House. So thank you and your family. Thank you very
much.”
Honoring
Vietnam veterans
Before
inducting the two Medal of Honor recipients, the defense secretary, who served
in Vietnam as an Army infantry noncommissioned officer, acknowledged the
Vietnam veterans present who “served in battle with these men.”
“We’re
very proud of you,” he said. “We’re grateful for your service, what you have
done for our country and what you mean to all of us.
“You
witnessed, firsthand, courageous actions,” Hagel continued. “Certainly the
courageous actions of the two we honor today, but you, too, exhibited
tremendous bravery on the battlefield.”
Last
month, he said, marked 50 years since the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the
escalation of the Vietnam War -- a conflict that would result in the deaths of
tens of thousands of American service members.
The
Vietnam War left other service members with visible and invisible wounds of
war, Hagel said, and leaving far too many selfless warriors without the
dignity, respect and appreciation they deserved when they all came home.
“We
still have not made things right for many of these Vietnam veterans,” he said.
“But today we have the opportunity to correct the record for two of them.”
Acts
of heroism
Many
in the audience were probably familiar with Adkins’ and Sloat’s “stories of
heroism, which again, the president described yesterday at the White House,”
Hagel said.
Yet,
the two soldiers’ stories bear repeating, he added.
Hagel
described then-Sgt. 1st Class Adkins’ actions over the course of 48 hours as he
“repeatedly put himself in harm’s way to move his wounded comrades to safety,
gather urgently needed supplies, and recover the fallen.”
Adkins
“almost singlehandedly repelled enemy forces when they launched their main
assault, firing all the ammunition left in the camp,” the secretary said.
When
Adkins missed the evacuation helicopter in an attempt to carry out a wounded
soldier, Hagel said, “he led the survivors into the jungle and evaded capture
for another two days.”
In
doing so, Hagel said, Sergeant Major Adkins displayed a level of bravery that
saved many lives and showed the enemy that American soldiers have the will to
fight until the very last bullet.
The
defense secretary quoted Adkins himself as he recalled his experience “with
understated humility” -- “‘It was not my day to die.’”
Hagel
noted while Adkins’ ordeal spanned “days and days,” Sloat’s lasted “one
instant, but it was no less heroic.”
“A
grenade rolled toward him, tripped by a fellow soldier, when they were on
patrol in the Que Son Valley,” he explained.
“Specialist
Sloat had a split-second choice to make,” Hagel said. “And less than four months
into his tour of duty in Vietnam, and not even a year since enlisting in the
Army, he made a selfless sacrifice to protect his brothers.”
Hagel
quoted a soldier on patrol with Sloat that day, “‘I was only five to eight feet
behind Don when the grenade went off. His act saved my life and the lives of
others.’”
“That
decision to put the greater good above self -- to sacrifice the one for the
many -- reflects the core values of our military,” Hagel said.
Inspirational
heroes
The
defense secretary noted Sloat’s action leads other Americans to “aspire to the
altruism, the dedication and the bold courage that Specialist Sloat embodied
that day.”
By
honoring Sloat and Adkins, Hagel said, “we hope their stories will inspire a
new generation of leaders.”
The
two soldiers are being honored, he said, “for the remarkable valor they
exhibited on the battlefield [and] for reminding us of the awesome power of the
human spirit and for symbolizing the fearless determination of the American
soldier.”
At
the conclusion of the ceremony, Hagel quoted former President John F. Kennedy.
“As
President Kennedy once said, ‘A nation reveals itself not only by the men it
produces, but also by the men it honors. The men it remembers,’” the secretary
said.
“May
God bless these two soldiers, their families,” Hagel said, “and all the men and
women in our armed forces who, day-in and day-out, personify the ideals of our
great nation.”
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