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Joe R. Hooper

Joe Hooper is the most decorated American soldier of any foreign war ever. Medal of Honor winner. He won other medals including: two Silver Stars for gallantry, six Bronze Stars for heroism, eight Purple Hearts, and the Combat Infantryman's Badge.

At age 17 he enlisted in the Navy, plannign a military career. When it came time for him to re-enlist he changed over to the army and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division.

He had over 115 kills, 22 of them on a battle in February 1968

This is the story of that battle. He was a sergeant and a squad leader, he was leading his men near the city of Hue on February 21, 1968. He and his men were ambushed and entered a six hour fire fight. His squad drew heavy fire from rockets and machine guns as they approached a 20-foot wide stream. He dashed across the stream and into the face of the enemy onslaught, even though they were firing from fortified bunkers.

After over-running several of the bunkers and while still under intense fir, he began pulling his wounded men back to safety.

While going after the wounded, he was seriously wounded himself. He refused all medical aid, though, while his men were in jeopardy.

Under heavy fire, he then single-handedly stormed three enemy bunkers, destroying them, and then charged alone into a nearby building occupied by the enemy and demolished it.

Grenade fragments now compounded his initia; wound but, despite the severe loss of blood, he continued to lead his men. He again single-handedly destroyed another line of bunkers by sprinting down a trench in front of them lobbing grenades into the open portals as he went.

Then seeing that one of his men was wounded and pinned down in another trench, he raced across an open field under heavy fire to save him.

He was out of ammunition himself so he picked up a pistol off of the ground and eliminated the enemy that was firing on them.

He then carried the soldier back to a secure area and he made sure that his wounded men were cared for. Then he set up a defensive line.

He was wounded seven times on that day, he refused treatment until his men were safe.

He was not evacuated from the battlefield until the next morning when he passed out from loss of blood.

He awoke in a field hospital but was worried about his his men who were in reality, boys, who depeneded on his experience to lead them.

Technically he was AWOL. The Army did not find him until he was wounded in another feat of bravery.

He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant and sent back home. President Richard Nixon pinned the Medal of Honor on him and he was promised easy duty.

He asked instead to go back to Vietnam. He said he wanted to go back because in his first tour he didn't lose a single man under his command, even though they were in some of the war's toughest battle. He thought he could continue to save lives through his training and leadership skills.

It required a special order from the President to send a Medal of Honor recipient back for a second tour. By the end of the second tour he had recieved 37 medals, eight more than World War Two Hero Audie Murphy.

He left the service in 1972 as a Captain, with a little mor ethan a $12,000 check. He said about the battle in February that earned him the Medal of Honor, " I had no choice that day, I did what I had to do"

He was not praised nation-wide as a hero though, he was reviled and faded away.

He war wounds left him painfully arthritic and 60% disabled. His wife said he cried the day he saw the evening news and watched the last American troops being pulled out of Vietnam, he said, "All those lives and boken bodies have been wasted. We accomplished nothing." His physical pain from combat wounds, his belief that his bravery had been in vain, and the scorn of a hostile society had their effect. He became an retreated to alcohol and died alone and forgotten at age 40 in a Kentucky hotel room.