Biden Awards Medal of Honor to 4 for Vietnam War Heroism
WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden on Tuesday bestowed the nation’s highest military honor to four Army soldiers for heroism during the Vietnam War, bravery that he said had not diminished even with the passage of time.
Biden presented the Medal of Honor to Staff Sgt. Edward N. Kaneshiro, Spc. Five Dwight W. Birdwell, Spc. Five Dennis M. Fujii, and retired Maj. John J. Duffy. Speaking at a ceremony in the White House East Room, Biden praised their heroism, noting that many like them don’t receive “the full recognition they deserve.”
“Today, we’re setting the record straight. We’re upgrading the awards of four soldiers who performed acts of incredible heroism during the Vietnam conflict,” Biden said.
“It’s just astounding when you hear what each of them have done,” he said. “They went far above and beyond the call of duty. It’s a phrase always used but … it takes on life when you see these men.”
President Joe Biden speaks during a Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House on July 5, 2022. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)
Addressing the three living soldiers and relatives of Kaneshiro, who is deceased, the president said, “I’m proud to finally award our highest military recognition, the Medal of Honor, to each of you.”
Biden noted that more than 50 years had passed “since the jungles of Vietnam where, as young men, these soldiers first proved their mettle. But time has not diminished their astonishing bravery, their selflessness in putting the lives of others ahead of their own, and the gratitude that we as a nation owe them.”
Kaneshiro, killed in action by hostile gunfire in Vietnam in 1967, received his honor posthumously for a Dec. 1, 1966, raid where his unit came under fire by North Vietnamese troops. His actions were credited with
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