![\"Portrait](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/88\/Littrell_GaryL_MOH.jpg\/960px-Littrell_GaryL_MOH.jpg\")
\nSFC, U.S. Army \u2014 Vietnam War<\/strong><\/p>\n Gary L. Littrell was born on October 26, 1944, in Henderson, Kentucky. A career infantry soldier, he deployed to Vietnam as a light weapons adviser with U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam, serving with the 23rd Battalion of the 2nd Ranger Group of the South Vietnamese Army.<\/p>\n On April 4, 1970, the battalion established a defensive perimeter on a hill near Dak Seang in Kontum Province and came under intense enemy mortar attack. The Vietnamese commander was killed, one American adviser was killed, and every other adviser was seriously wounded \u2014 leaving Littrell as the lone able-bodied adviser to a besieged battalion. For four days, he bolstered the position almost single-handedly: directing artillery and air support by day, marking the unit’s position by night, redistributing ammunition, strengthening faltering points in the perimeter, caring for the wounded, and shouting encouragement to the Vietnamese soldiers in their own language. Assault after assault was repulsed. When the battalion was finally ordered to withdraw through a gauntlet of ambushes, Littrell directed air strikes to within 50 meters of their own position to prevent disorder and avert heavy loss of life.<\/p>\n President Richard Nixon presented Littrell’s Medal of Honor at the White House on October 15, 1973. He retired in 1985 as a command sergeant major after 24 years of service, was inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame in 1993, and lives in St. Pete Beach, Florida, where through his Tribute To Valor foundation he speaks to students about the Medal of Honor’s core values.<\/p>\n Sources: Wikipedia<\/a> \u00b7 Congressional Medal of Honor Society<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n