Medal Of Honor recipient Dwight Johnson from the 69th Armor was in the process of holding up a Detroit-area liquor store when he was shot dead on the evening of 30 April 1971; four years later North Vietnamese tanks would roll into Saigon and the last helicopter to leave the American Embassy took flight. His is one of the saddest of stories, which in no way lessens the raw courage of his actions that got him the Medal, not a few minutes impulsive act but most of an hour's worth, including the portion during which he hunted down one of the North Vietnamese attackers and beat him to death with an M3 grease gun, not a bad little 9-pound blunt instrument.
Neither does his previous valour in any way excuse or justify his later criminal activity, but it is most certainly a story without a happy ending, and if ever anyone deserved a happier one, it was Spec 5 Dwight Johnson.
