DEPUTY SECRETARY OF DEFENSE KATHLEEN HICKS: Thank you, and good afternoon. It is my extreme privilege to be here today to honor Colonel Paris Davis, a Vietnam War veteran, a combat hero, and now, a Medal of Honor recipient.
Secretary Wormuth and General McConville, thank you for your leadership of the Army and for your tributes to Colonel Davis and your accounts of his sacrifice and service.
Let me also recognize several of the distinguished guests here today, including, of course, our Medal of Honor recipients, Lieutenant Colonel William Swenson and Sergeant First Class Leroy Perry (sic), and a number of senior leaders across the Department of Defense who have come out today to share in the honor.
I also want to welcome Colonel Davis' longtime friend and battle buddy, Mr. Ron Dice, members of the Davis family, all of whom are joining us today. We all owe our deepest gratitude and respect to our nation's military families, families like the Davises. It should never be overlooked nor underappreciated how critical your support and sacrifice are to the defense of this nation. Thank you all, in fact, for being here today to celebrate an extraordinary American soldier.
That soldier, our Medal of Honor recipient, Colonel Davis, is, as President Biden so aptly remarked at Friday's Medal of Honor ceremony, an incredible man, and I want to acknowledge that this honor is long-overdue. I want to acknowledge that for you and for your family, Colonel Davis, an appropriate recognition should have come much sooner following the bravery you demonstrated and the sacrifices you made more than half a century ago to save your fellow soldiers from certain death during the Vietnam War. Everyone in this auditorium can agree that this award, which you so richly deserve, has, in fact, been a long time coming.
The Medal of Honor is awarded to those individuals who face, stare down seemingly-insurmountable odds on the battlefield, those who sacrifice their own health and safety to defend the nation and their comrades and those who show exceptional valor. Any who have heard of Colonel Davis' fearlessness and bold spirit understand exactly why he deserves a ceremony fit for a hero.
On May 25, 1961, President John Kennedy delivered a special message to Congress on urgent national needs. Inspired by President Kennedy's call to increase and reorient our Special Forces, Paris Davis became one of the first black members of the Green Berets.
So it was that Davis was an Army captain on June 18th, 1965, leading a unit of several American soldiers and about 90 freshly-minted Vietnamese soldiers at Camp Bong Son, Binh Dinh Province in the Republic of Vietnam. Then-Captain Davis' unit had conducted a successful ambush on the camp, and the North Vietnamese began an overwhelming counter attack almost immediately. From sunrise until after sunset, Davis led his combined forces in a fierce battle, defending their position against several hundred Viet Cong attackers. Captain Davis showed no fear, running right into the face of danger, meeting five Viet Cong coming over his unit's trench line, killing them all.
Hearing fire from another direction, he again raced toward known danger and launched a grenade, killing four more Viet Cong. In spite of a jammed M-16, a blasted trigger finger and the raining down of sniper fire, Captain Davis used what he had, whether it was his pistol and his pinkie, the butt of his rifle, or his pure will to defend himself at any given moment, and he was still under sniper fire when he began looking for his teammates.
First, he went off for Staff Sergeant David Morgan, who was stuck and yelling out from a ditch. Locating the sniper, Captain Davis killed him with the sniper's own rifle and unlocked a grenade, killing two more Viet Cong nearby. He then threw Staff Sergeant Morgan a rope and pulled him out of the muddy trough.
Next, Captain Davis turned to Master Sergeant Billy Waugh, wounded, shot four times in the foot and stuck in mud and vegetation. While pulling Master Sergeant Waugh out of the muck, the enemy again tried to overrun their position. Davis picked up a machine gun and started firing, sending enemy soldiers dropping to the ground or scrambling to escape.
After rescuing Master Sergeant Waugh, Davis held off yet another Viet Cong assault with a machine gun and then turned to help First Class John Reinburg, who had been shot twice in the chest. He retrieved Sergeant Reinburg and carried him across his shoulders 400 meters through the muddy rice field.
When support arrived, Captain Davis was ordered to withdraw from the position to seek medical help, but with Specialist Rob Brown still out there, he simply and outright refused.
Specialist Brown's fate weighed especially heavily. The night before the battle, Captain Davis and his teammates had popped open a box of cigars to celebrate the birth of Rob's first child. With the celebration fresh in his mind, Captain Davis was determined to get Rob back to his wife Paula, and his newborn son, Troy.
So using a few choice words over his handset, Captain Davis told the air controller that he would not leave until everyone was recovered and safe, that no one would be left behind, and he did not back down from his word.
By the end of that day, Captain Davis had saved four of his fellow American soldiers, one by one and while twice refusing commands to evacuate the battlefield and suffering from his own serious wounds and injuries.
I believe I ask this question on behalf of everyone in this room and everyone who has heard Colonel Davis' story and eyewitness accounts, and that question is "How?" How does one run towards surefire danger with such abandon? How does one push through under such daunting and dire circumstances to keep themselves and their fellow soldiers alive? And how does one remain as humble and modest as Colonel Davis, despite all he has done and all that he has been through?
In fact, it is my understanding that, Regan, it wasn't until 2019 that you became aware of the extent of your father's heroic deeds during his military service. I don't believe there is a single work of fiction, no Marvel movie ever filmed that can capture the heroism that Captain Davis displayed that day. This is the medal of real life heroes and Colonel Davis' valor is exemplary — incredible strength, a brilliant strategic mind, and uncommon bravery against overwhelmingly, seemingly insurmountable odds.
And Colonel Davis tells us what motivated him against those staggering odds, what has motivated so many of the men and women across our total force and throughout generations — it is the simple desire to be of service, to serve one's community, to serve one's comrades, and to serve one's country. And I believe that's why, as Colonel Davis likes to say, he kept on keeping on, not backing down or giving up or losing hope. He chose to act and to lead.
After his military service and having endured the unfathomable heat of battle, Colonel Davis could have returned home and assumed a private life, turning inward, but instead, he continued to make America better by making his community better, supporting his family, and launching and publishing the Metro Herald Newspaper for 30 years.
We should all be inspired by Colonel Davis' example and we are grateful to his friends, his teammates, and the many volunteers who, over the decades, were so inspired by his actions that they remained steadfast in ensuring Colonel Davis received the nation's highest combat honor, a recognition of which he is undeniably worthy.
This year, the United States is marking an important milestone, the 75th anniversary of the racial integration of the Armed Forces. With it came resistance but also the opportunity for full equality.
So as I close, I want to state the obvious — Colonel Davis is living proof that we are a stronger, more effective military by drawing on the talents of qualified Americans of every race who want to answer the call to military service.
And today, I am proud to help lead a Defense Department helmed by the first African American Secretary of Defense, a department that continues to expand opportunity to qualified Americans, regardless of race or gender or identity, and a department that understands that honor has no expiration date.
So on behalf of a grateful nation, thank you, Colonel Davis, for your courage under fire, for your continued commitment to community, and for your outstanding service to this nation. It is our incredible honor to add your name to those inscribed in the Hall of Heroes.