Bloomberg | , Posted by Singh Rahul Sunil Kumar
President Joe Biden has awarded the Medal of Honor to one of the nation’s first special forces officers who fought decades to save fellow soldiers during a grueling, day-long firefight in Vietnam.
Paris Davis, 83, was awarded the nation’s highest military honor at the White House on Friday after the Pentagon twice said it had lost the paperwork nominating her for the award. The case has been widely seen as an example of the discrimination faced by black soldiers in the years following the integration of the armed services.
Biden said, “He never lost faith, which I found amazing.”
Biden introduced Davis’ decision to pursue a career in the Green Berets, despite warnings that the largely white special forces group could be discriminatory. Davis was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Vietnam, where he returned several times to the battlefield to bring wounded soldiers to safety – despite being shot twice himself.
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Biden said, “You are everything our country is at our best: brave and big-hearted, determined and dedicated, selfless and determined.”
