Posted on 04/22/2018 5:10:23 PM PDT by Kathy in Alaska
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Kern W. Dunagan (February 20, 1934 - December 27, 1991) was a United States Army officer and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in the Vietnam War. Dunagan joined the Army from Los Angeles, California, and by May 13, 1969 was serving as a captain in Company A, 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment, Americal Division. During a firefight on that day, in Quang Tin Province, Republic of Vietnam, Dunagan showed conspicuous leadership as he organized his men and rescued wounded soldiers despite his own wounds. He was subsequently promoted to major and awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions. Dunagan reached the rank of colonel before leaving the Army. He died at age 57 and was buried in San Francisco National Cemetery, San Francisco, California. |
||||||||||
Major Dunagan's official Medal of Honor citation reads: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Maj. (then Capt.) Dunagan distinguished himself during the period May 13 and 14, 1969, while serving as commanding officer, Company A. On May 13, 1969, Maj. Dunagan was leading an attack to relieve pressure on the battalion's forward support base when his company came under intense fire from a well-entrenched enemy battalion. Despite continuous hostile fire from a numerically superior force, Maj. Dunagan repeatedly and fearlessly exposed himself in order to locate enemy positions, direct friendly supporting artillery, and position the men of his company. In the early evening, while directing an element of his unit into perimeter guard, he was seriously wounded during an enemy mortar attack, but he refused to leave the battlefield and continued to supervise the evacuation of dead and wounded and to lead his command in the difficult task of disengaging from an aggressive enemy. In spite of painful wounds and extreme fatigue, Maj. Dunagan risked heavy fire on 2 occasions to rescue critically wounded men. He was again seriously wounded. Undaunted, he continued to display outstanding courage, professional competence, and leadership and successfully extricated his command from its untenable position on the evening of May 14. Having maneuvered his command into contact with an adjacent friendly unit, he learned that a 6-man party from his company was under fire and had not reached the new perimeter. Maj. Dunagan unhesitatingly went back and searched for his men. Finding 1 soldier critically wounded, Maj. Dunagan, ignoring his wounds, lifted the man to his shoulders and carried him to the comparative safety of the friendly perimeter. Before permitting himself to be evacuated, he insured all of his wounded received emergency treatment and were removed from the area. Throughout the engagement, Maj. Dunagan's actions gave great inspiration to his men and were directly responsible for saving the lives of many of his fellow soldiers. Maj. Dunagan's extraordinary heroism above and beyond the call of duty, are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army. |
||||||||||
Please remember the Canteen is here to honor, support and entertain our troops and their families. This is a politics-free zone! Thanks for helping us in our mission! |
Evening, Kathy. Thanks for another inspiring bio!
Well, the good news is that you got rain but it wasn’t flooding! I’ve forgotten what rain smells like. LOL! Sorry it messes your back up. I hope you’ve taken something. How are all the furballs?
Ghost was eating and he didn’t bolt when I went out and unfolded that bright pink chair. No....I didn’t have on my bright lime crocs. LOL! Sometimes he comes right up to the back door and meows and then looks in and stays pretty close when I open it to feed him. So, there is progress. Also he doesn’t run when hubby goes out to move the water, etc.
Anything you put in the closet multiplies when you aren’t looking.
I’m sorry that I am not more talkative tonight.
I’m coming down with a cold.
UGH!
I may turn in early tonight!
Not flooding here but they had a few flood watches marked to our west on the weather report earlier. They’re getting more rain than we are, as they always do.
I don’t take any prescription drugs for pain. Just extra-strength Tylenol if it gets real bad to knock it back a notch or two. Haven’t taken any of that in quite a while. Having a high tolerance for pain helps.
The furballs are doing ok for the most part. Sasha is doing much better with the new med and some special diet food. The sulfa drug she started on didn’t agree with her at all.
Pandy has me fretting at the moment. She goes in tomorrow to have a weird lump on the side of her face checked out. I’ve never seen one like it and don’t have a clue what it is.
Good thing you didn’t have the crocs in! Those and that bright pink chair might have been too much together. LOL!
Glad to hear Ghost isn’t running off s much as he used to. Progress is being made, slowly but surely.
Oh no. Not a cold! You sure don’t need that!!!
I keep disappearing because I’m over in Europe, checking in on all the birds I watch over there. LOL! Watching storks in Poland at the moment.
So now I have my Trailer, My Harley, My Guitar, and my Pit Bull.
Contentment....
Isn’t arm chair travel fun?
We can go anywhere in the world!
LOL
Hey Ma!
I’m catching a cold!
Do we have any chicken soup in the Canteen?
Stay away tornados!!!
Yes! Just like bunnies! LOL! I’ll bet if I tried, I couldn’t get them BACK into the closet! I’m glad to get it done...mostly...and I’ve given them to a lady who has relatives that can use them. I’ll go slower now to weed out any strays that hid from me.
Are y’all making good progress at your house? You’re going to have lots of empty space when all is said and done!
Very slowly but surely. He’s never had a family or anyone to really care for him that we know of.
I don’t like prescription drugs either, so I totally get it. As long as it’s tolerable, then it will pass and you’ll be better again.
Hope Pandy’s face gets better and that it’s nothing more than a bit of an infection that can be treated.
Arm chair travel is the ONLY way I get to go anywhere. Too many kittehs hold me hostage at the farm. LOL
Livestream cams are great for seeing what’s going on around the world and for watching nature. Right now it’s a lovely morning in Latvia for a white-tailed eagle to brood eggs and the “hoo hoo birds” are singing.
And it’s still daylight in AK at 9 pm.
No tornados expected here this week, fortunately. And they all pooped out to the south. Just a soggy night ahead for us.
He’s the kind that takes a while to tame but it can be done with a LOT of patience. And once he allows you to touch him and realizes how good it feels, he’ll probably become a mush-bucket like our Celeborn, Thorn, and Austin did. They were the sweetest ol’ fellers.
I haven’t taken a prescription drug since I had pneumonia in ‘93. Want nothing to do with them if I can help it. I just lay low when I hurt a lot and deal with it. I do move around because it really does help but I don’t do anything strenuous that will make things worse.
This is no infection on Pandy. It’s a weird cyst or tumor of some sort. I’m just praying it’s something benign.
Bleah!
I’m gonna put my sick self to bed!
Sorry I missed Ma and Luvvie!
Off to me bedchamber!
Love to all and hugs alla round!
Take care of yourself!
We don’t want you getting too sick with that cold. :-(
I hope a good night’s sleep will help you feel better.
*HUGZ*
Oh, Sis! I’m sorry you’re not feeling good. I hope you can stay home tomorrow or for a few days to get to feeling better.
Rest well. We’ll talk soon! (((hugs)))
Yay! Blue is back! Now things will be all better. As soon as Penny isn’t pouting about missing her hike. LOL
This officer and gentleman was definitely not a “millennial” fop like so many of our girly-men today.
He is fully aware of everything going on around him. There is no touching his back...he has his eyes on me all the time. I’m just happy to know he’s not hungry and he has the shed if it is nasty out. Unless Peaches beats him to it. LOL!
Lordy, I hope whatever Pandy has can be dealt with easily and has no after effects.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.