Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Marine Corps Cpl. Larry E. Smedley, Medal of Honor recipient.
Episode 2728 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Marine Corps Cpl. Larry Smedley 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: Marine Corps Cpl. Larry Smedley. It was submitted by Katie Lange, a writer for DOD News.
Lange, in her story, reported that on the 106th anniversary of Congress authorizing the Medal of Honor for sailors and Marines, young Marine Corps Cpl. Larry Smedley earned it by giving his life to protect his comrades in Vietnam.
Lange added this about Smedley; Smedley was born on March 4, 1949, in Front Royal, Virginia. When he was young, his family moved him and his two siblings to Georgia before settling in Union Park, Florida, just outside of Orlando. Smedley’s family said he was really interested in the military, so, in 1966, the 17-year-old dropped out of high school and joined the Marine Corps.
Smedley first served as a rifleman and fire team leader with the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. By July 1967, he was in Vietnam. Two months into his deployment, Smedley was promoted to corporal and served as a rifleman and squad radioman with Company D, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division.
On the evening of Dec. 21, 1967, Smedley led a six-man squad to an ambush site at the mouth of an area known as Happy Valley near Phuoc Ninh, west of the vital Da Nang military complex. During the night, they noticed about 100 enemy fighters carrying 122-mm rocket launchers and mortars toward a hill that was within range of the complex.
Listen to episode 2728 and discover more about Vietnam Vet Marine Corps Cpl. Larry Smedley and his Congressional Medal of Honor award.
