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Medal of Honor Recipient Army Spec 5 Dennis M. Fujii
Army Spc. 5 Dennis Fujii returns home to Hawaii from Vietnam with a hero’s welcome, 1971.
Episode 2749 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Army Spec 5 Dennis M. Fujii and his Congressional Medal of Honor award. The featured story comes from The U.S. Department of Defense website and was titled: Medal of Honor Monday: Army Spec 5 Dennis M. Fujii. It was submitted by Katie Lange, the outstanding writer for DOD News.
Lange, in her story, reported that In 1971, Army Spc. 5 Dennis M. Fujii spent five grueling days fending off enemy fighters after his medevac helicopter crashed during a rescue attempt in Laos. During that time, he took care of wounded South Vietnamese soldiers and found a way for U.S. air support to successfully extract him. Fujii recently received the Medal of Honor for those actions, more than 50 years after the ordeal made him a hero.
Lange added this about Dennis Fujii. he was born March 1, 1949, in Hanapepe on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. He was one of six children of Gladys and Charles Fujii, the latter of whom had served in the National Guard.
Fujii enlisted in the Army in the middle of his senior year of high school in 1968, and he was able to earn his diploma while he was in the service. He deployed to Vietnam that same year as an assistant machine gunner with the 4th Infantry Division.
The young soldier returned home but was deployed again in 1970, this time with the 237th Medical Detachment, 61st Medical Battalion of the 67th Medical Group.
On Feb. 18, 1971, Fujii was serving as the crew chief aboard a medevac helicopter, which was sent to evacuate seriously wounded South Vietnamese soldiers from a raging battle in Laos.
Listen to episode 2749 and discover more about Army Spec 5 Dennis M. Fujii and his Congressional Medal of Honor award.
