SP4, U.S. Army — Vietnam War
Gary G. Wetzel was born on September 29, 1947, in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He deployed to Vietnam as a helicopter door gunner with the 173rd Assault Helicopter Company, 11th Combat Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Brigade.
On January 8, 1968, near Ap Dong An, Wetzel’s helicopter was part of an insertion force caught in a hot landing zone. As he moved to aid his aircraft commander, two enemy rockets exploded inches from him — nearly severing his left arm and wounding his right arm, chest, and left leg. Despite his catastrophic injuries, he staggered back to his machine gun and single-handedly destroyed an enemy automatic-weapons emplacement that was inflicting heavy casualties on American troops; for a time, his was the only effective fire on the enemy. Refusing to tend his own wounds, he repeatedly lost and regained consciousness while dragging himself to help his wounded crew members reach the safety of a nearby dike. His left arm was later amputated.
Wetzel was a private first class during the action; he received the Medal of Honor as a specialist four from President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House on November 19, 1968. He also received the Purple Heart and the Air Medal. He returned home to South Milwaukee, where he has worked as a heavy equipment operator. In 2007, the Army honored him at Fort Rucker, Alabama, naming a street there for him alongside fellow recipient Patrick Brady.
Sources: Wikipedia · Congressional Medal of Honor Society