Profiles in Courage: Robert L. Howard

The last time someone received a second Medal of Honor was in World War I, and it's unlikely we'll ever see another two-time recipient in our lifetime. But if anyone were going to come close to receiving multiple Medals of Honor, it would have been U.S. Army Col. Robert L. Howard. During his 54 months of active combat service in Vietnam, he was wounded an astonishing 14 times and received eight Purple Hearts and four Bronze Stars.

He was also nominated for the Medal of Honor three times in 13 months, the only soldier ever to receive three nominations. Two of those were downgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star because his actions took place in Cambodia, where the United States wasn't technically at war. He would be awarded the medal on his third nomination, forever changing his life and career. 
 
Alabama-born Howard enlisted in the Army in 1956 and would spend the rest of his working life serving his country. Some 36 of those years would be spent in the Army, first as an enlisted Special Forces soldier, then as a Special Forces officer. He was a Staff Sergeant when he was sent to Vietnam as part of the secret Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) in 1967. It was the first of five tours in Vietnam.

In December 1968, he was on a rescue mission looking for six missing American soldiers. It was a mixed American-South Vietnamese Hatchet Force based in Kon Tum. It was a platoon-sized force that would be inserted by helicopter into the soldiers' last reported location. As they moved to the landing zone, his force began taking ground fire and casualties. Immediately upon landing, he took three men to secure a perimeter. The incoming fire caused him to fall.

His three men were killed immediately. Two companies of enemy troops completely surrounded the LZ. One of the helicopters had been shot down. They had to fight their way out of the drop zone and made a move for the high ground. Howard pushed his way to the front of the unit, but before he could warn his lieutenant about enemy fire from their flanks, they were ambushed – and had walked right into it.

Howard had been hit by a grenade, his weapon destroyed. When he came to, his platoon was in disarray, and he was left temporarily blinded. When his vision returned, he realized his hands were wounded, and the enemy troops were burning the Americans with a flamethrower. Howard got up and pulled his lieutenant down the hill. As he moved, he acquired a sidearm from an unhurt-friendly soldier just as the North Vietnamese came running out of the bush. 

He killed two of the attacking enemy soldiers before he was hit yet again. One of the rounds hit the rifle magazines on his belt, causing them to explode. Out of ammunition, he returned to the landing zone, now a casualty collection point. He ordered that every wounded soldier in the field be treated while every unharmed soldier rallied to his position. In the melee, he'd seen soldiers watching his comrades being shot up by the enemy and not even firing their weapons. He told the men who had watched without fighting that they were going to establish a perimeter and that they were either going to fight or die. 

"I want you to get every live person we've got that's able to fight," he told a wounded medic through gritted teeth. "I want to talk to them right now." 

He located three strobe lights and assembled them in a triangle around their position, got on the radio, and called in an airstrike on their position, hoping the incoming aircraft could avoid hitting the friendlies inside the strobes. They fought for four hours without help before Air Force pilots 20 minutes away volunteered to make a rescue attempt. Before the airmen could arrive, the North Vietnamese made another desperate charge. Howard was forced to order an airstrike on his own position. 

The incoming air power was so intense the fire from the assault struck close to his feet. But as the airstrike receded, the sound of helicopters replaced it. The Air Force was able to extract what was left of his platoon. Of the 37 troops who went into the landing zone that day, only six walked out. Howard was the last man on the helicopter, waiting until everyone else had been evacuated first. 

For his gallantry and the reorganization of his battered platoon, Robert L. Howard received the Medal of Honor from President Richard Nixon in a White House ceremony on March 2, 1971. He would become one of the most decorated soldiers of the Vietnam War and would serve until 1992. In his post-military career, he would work with veterans in Texas. Howard died on December 23, 2009, and was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.