The most recent Medal of Honor recipient was a fellow Chattanoogan and longtime friend, CPT Larry Taylor, whom I profiled in November 2021 as his nomination was advancing. In July 2023, the upgrade of Larry’s Silver Star to a Medal of Honor was finally approved, and the award was officially made on September 5 that year. His citation is now posted accordingly.

That upgrade effort was led by GEN B.B. Bell (USA-Ret.), Advisory Board chairman of the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, and another friend, SGT Dave Hill, the last surviving member of the Rangers Larry rescued that dark and deadly June night in Vietnam, 56 years ago. Delays for Medals of Honor occur for many reasons — first and foremost, it’s not in the nature of heroic individuals to advocate for their own acknowledgment. I have met most of the 61 living recipients, many appearing in our Profiles of Valor, and they are, to a man, humble servants — always quick to note they wear that MoH on behalf of those with whom they served.

Secondly, nominations get lost in the fog of war. In Taylor’s case, his commanding officer was killed less than three weeks following the Ranger rescue, and next up the command line, MG Keith Ware, himself a WWII Medal of Honor recipient, was shot down and killed less than three months later. Paper trails are not a priority in the midst of warfare.

Taylor was a strong but humble man, and for decades, nobody advocated upgrading his Silver Star to a Medal of Honor, but SGT Hill and GEN Bell were not going to let that rest.

Moreover, too often, the dangerous missions of those saved by Medal of Honor recipients are lost in the shadows of history. But what follows is a combination of the rescue accounts from both Larry Taylor and Dave Hill.

On the night of 18 June 1968, then-1LT Taylor, a Cobra gunship pilot, heard a desperate plea for help from a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP). The four-man patrol was surrounded by enemy VC on the northeast side of Saigon, about 30 clicks away. Larry recalled: “The call that changed my life came at around 2100. Higher up had sent four LRRP teams to reconnoiter a small village. I’d known it was a doomed mission from the start, and told my CO as much, but sometimes the higher echelons of combat did not listen to the guys pulling the triggers. Chatter over the net crackled and screeched, but the words came as clear as the desperation in the voice — ‘We’re surrounded!’”

That call was from SGT Dave Hill, today the last Ranger standing among his four Wildcat 2 LRRP team members, including team leader PFC Robert P. Elsner, SGT Billy Cohn, and SPC4 Gerald Paddy. Note that on these deadly recon missions, experience often determined leadership, not rank. What the team initially believed to be a small enemy unit that night, turned out to be the tip of a spear, the point element of a much larger enemy force. As Dave puts it: “We inadvertently ‘snuck’ into the middle of a company of NVA likely headed to attack Saigon. We had expected to set up an overwatch-ambush in that location, but they arrived first. Their squads ‘closed the door’ to our south, completing the encirclement of our team.”

Hill’s patrol was able to accurately estimate enemy strength and position thanks to their “Starlight Scope,” an early-generation night vision device. However rudimentary compared to current Gen 4 night vision technology, it was an advantage our guys had over enemy forces.

Wildcat 2 was trapped and about to be killed. “We called for support,” says Hill, and Taylor, call sign “Darkhorse Three Two,” answered the call.

Dave is a California native who enlisted in the Army in 1966 after graduating high school. He spent the next year accumulating specialized training and experience at Ft. Gordon and Ft. Benning, particularly as a scout dog handler. He deployed to Vietnam as F Co./52nd Inf. In 1968, every LRP company was re-designated as a lettered Ranger company, so his team became 1st Infantry Division, I Company, 75th Infantry (Airborne Ranger).

Dave advised Larry: “We’re pinned down, get us out! God, we’re going to die out here.”

“‘Not on my watch!’” Larry responded, noting: “I radioed higher, but they were about as helpful as tits on a boar. ‘I’m going to extract them myself.’ The response was ‘negative-negative-negative, you will belay that.’ They’re going to die. ‘Standby … Standby … Standby …’”

According to Larry, “radio interference” prevented him from clearly hearing he was ordered not to rescue the men of Wildcat 2. Thus, he and his copilot, J.O. Ratliff, turned Darkhorse Three Two into harm’s way toward the frantic radio calls.

Hill described the actions of Taylor and Ratliff: “Once Larry was in the area, we fired a flare to signal our position. And, of course, then, all hell broke loose. Over the next 35 minutes, Taylor and Ratliff continually made rocket and gun runs around us, hoping to open up a hole to the south so we could escape.” But there was no opening: “We were all tapped out, we had nothing left.” As Taylor flew over our position, we radioed, “You’re over us now.” And, “All of a sudden, we feel the rotor wash amid the hail of fire, and here comes Taylor’s Cobra, and he’s landing.” (You can watch Dave’s first-person account of the actions that night here.)

As the Cobra descended into a clearing nearest Hill’s position, Taylor’s copilot asked, “What are we going to do with them?” Taylor responded, “I don’t know. I didn’t think that far ahead.” He turned on his landing light so the LRRP team could find their way to him.

Wild Cat 2 was out of ammo, but as they ran for Taylor’s bird, Dave Hill intentionally fell back behind the other three with his bag of grenades and provided cover by stopping every 10 yards and throwing grenades toward the enemy lines. (Hill was also awarded a Silver Star for his actions that night.)

Once at the Cobra, Larry said, “I didn’t have to tell them to get on.” Of course there was no place to “get in” because a Cobra is an attack bird, not a transport helicopter.

The four Rangers jumped on the skids and rocket pods and held on for life amid enemy fire. Taylor says, “Two of them jumped on the far side. They were sitting on the skid holding on to the strut and the other two jumped on the rocket pods.” Elsner and Patty hugged the skids. Hill and Cohn straddled the rocket launchers like horses, but facing backwards, “Which is exciting in the dark,” Hill said.

They banged hard twice on the airframe, which Larry said military code for “haul ass.”

Unbeknown to the Rangers hanging on outside the helicopter, Ratliff advised Taylor that their low fuel warning lights had come on before setting down. As they lifted off, he said they had less than 20 minutes. But the flight time to get the LRRP out of harm’s way and to make the short hop to their base would take at least 25 minutes. Larry declared, “So we are going to make a 25-minute flight on 20 minutes of fuel.” No problem.

Once safely on the nearest friendly ground, the four Rangers ran to the front of the aircraft so Taylor and his copilot could see they were clear, saluted the men who’d saved their lives, and then they were gone. Of that moment Taylor concluded: “Well, nobody got killed. So, we managed to pull everybody out, and we pulled it off. There were times when I thought, ‘Oh God, we’re all going to get killed.’”

After completing the exfil and surveying the damage to their Cobra, Taylor and Ratliff determined that 17 enemy rounds pierced their helicopter. The fact the two pilots and the Rangers survived is miraculous.

In the aftermath, there was actually some discussion by Taylor’s agitated CO about a reprimand because Larry disobeyed orders not to rescue Wildcat 2, but senior officers, hearing details of the rescue, put that to rest. Fact is, both Larry and Dave were cut from the same courageous irreverent “mission first” fabric! Humorously, Larry said, “Sometimes Dave’s rank varied depending on which CO he had offended that week.”

In conversation with Dave this week, he reiterated: “CPT Larry Taylor lived, led, and fought guided by two preeminent principals — the motto of his 1st Infantry Division: ‘NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT, NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT, DUTY FIRST’; and his own personal motto: ‘LEAVE NO MAN BEHIND.’ By rescuing our Ranger team, though he and J.O. Ratliff were totally out of ordnance and nearly out of fuel and at the clear risk of their own lives, Larry remained faithful to both of his aforementioned guiding principles. Had he failed to do so, none of our team would have survived. To CPT Taylor, even the thought of not doing so was abhorrent to him. I will forever be grateful for their selfless and courageous actions that night.”

When the Medal of Honor was announced, Cobra copilot J.O. Ratliff, one of those who authenticated the rescue details for the DoD Medal of Honor review board, said: “This old Wyoming cowboy just had a little something to do with it. It’s all about Larry. I thank Larry for his guidance of me and our fellow aviators in leadership and air combat tactics. He is a deserving and great American.”

(Notably, Dave Hill is now leading the effort for an official “Recommendation For Upgrade” on behalf of J.O. Ratliff, from a Distinguished Flying Cross (Bronze Star equivalent) to our nation’s 2nd highest valor award, the Distinguished Service Cross. The Eye-Witness Letter provided by Larry Taylor, who died four months after his award ceremony last year, is a key element of that upgrade.)

Bravo Zulu to Larry, and thank you Dave, B.B., and J.O. for your vigilant persistence to ensure Larry’s valorous actions were finally and appropriately recognized!

To the Rangers of Wildcat 2, SGT Hill, PFC Elsner, SGT Cohn, and SPC4 Paddy: Your examples of valor — humble American Patriots defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty, and in disregard for the peril to your own lives — is eternal. “Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

(Read more Profiles of Valor here.)

Footnote: There is a backlog of Medal of Honor nominations stalled, awaiting Joe Biden’s signature. For a man who is constantly dropping political bombs about “threats to democracy,” he has done little to advance recognition for those who have defended our Republic with their lives — just one of a plethora of reasons Biden is widely loathed by frontline warriors and is responsible for record-low military morale and recruiting shortfalls. Biden’s foreign policy ineptitude is deadly.

Among those nominations are two, PVT Philip Shadrach and PVT George Wilson of the 2nd Ohio Voluntary Infantry Regiment, the remaining members of Andrews’ Raiders in 1862 who have yet to be recognized for their actions. As you may recall, the actions of Andrews’ Raiders 162 years ago resulted in the first Medal of Honor awards in our nation’s history.

George W. Bush approved the Shadrach and Wilson awards before leaving office, but the files were “lost in transition” to the Obama regime. However, thanks to advocacy by their descendants, with assistance from the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, we hope those last two awards will soon be approved.

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776

Follow Mark Alexander on X/Twitter.

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