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Army Medic, Killed in Vietnam, Honored at ANC with Appropriate Headstone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF4n0IBE1zI

“It hurts sir,” Spc. 5 Calvin Bouknight said in his last words, as fellow soldier 2nd Lt. Dennis Deal recalled. Bouknight, a U.S. Army medic, had been hit by enemy fire while treating the wounded during the Battle of Ia Drang, the U.S. Army’s first major clash with North Vietnamese troops during the Vietnam War. Bouknight died on Nov. 16, 1965, and is buried in Section 38 of Arlington National Cemetery.

Until recently, Bouknight’s Silver Star designation was not listed on his headstone at ANC. Through the joint efforts of John McCaskill and ANC senior leadership, this error was remedied. On May 20, 2024, about 50 friends and family gathered in Section 38 for a commemorative ceremony to honor Bouknight and the correction to his grave marker. The event included an honor guard from Bouknight’s high school (McKinley Technology), a soldier playing “Garry Owen” on a fife, a wreath laying and a bugler sounding Taps.

The battle of Ia Drang commenced on Nov. 14, 1965, when Lt. Col. Harold Moore’s 1st Battalion of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, air assaulted into the Ia Drang Valley and confronted the North Vietnamese. “The incoming fire was very heavy,” Deal said. “We had pulled back and were flat on our stomachs with about ten wounded men ahead of us.” Suddenly, Deal felt someone step on his back. It was Bouknight, rushing out to treat the wounded.

With no regard for the enemy fire around him, Bouknight treated at least two wounded soldiers with his back to the enemy. “He was totally exposed,” said Deal, “and then the inevitable happened.” Although Deal did not see it, Bouknight took a bullet to the back. As Deal moved around the battlefield, he came across Bouknight, who had been brought off the front. That’s when they last spoke. Bouknight was put on a Medevac helicopter but later died.

When educator and “History Alive” creator John McCaskill, who organized the event, told attendees that they were there to celebrate and commemorate Bouknight, they applauded. McCaskill had a long history with Bouknight. In 2009, he found Bouknight’s name on the Vietnam Wall, and later read about the medic’s heroism in Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway’s famous memoir “We Were Soldiers Once…and Young.” In 2023, McCaskill posted an online story about Bouknight, which led him to connect with Bouknight’s family and to visit his headstone at ANC. When he noticed the headstone lacked the words “Silver Star,” he worked to add the honor.

The keynote speaker, Brig. Gen. Yolanda “YR” Summons, spoke, with tears in her eyes, about the importance of Bouknight’s Silver Star. She added that she regretted never serving with him, “but I am incredibly grateful for the path that he has forged, not just for me but for so many.”

While Summons spoke, artillery rounds from another funeral shook the air. “I’m trying to imagine what he was thinking and feeling,” she said. “Much like the sounds we hear here, he heard those.” The air soon shook again from another loud bang.

After the ceremony, Col. John Herron, who had been Bouknight and Deal’s company commander during the battle, reflected on Bouknight’s Silver Star. “We tried to get him the Medal of Honor, but we just didn’t have enough witnesses” to his actions, he said. While Bouknight did not receive the Medal of Honor, his bravery will be forever recognized by the Silver Star emblem prominently engraved on his headstone.