WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden bestowed the Medal of Honor to one of the nation’s first Special Forces officers, who struggled for decades to earn recognition for his actions saving fellow soldiers during a grueling, daylong firefight in Vietnam.
Paris Davis, 83, was awarded the nation’s highest military honor at the White House on Friday after the Pentagon twice had said it lost paperwork nominating him for the award. The case has been widely seen as an example of discrimination faced by Black soldiers in the years after armed services were integrated.
“He never lost faith, which I found astounding,” Biden said.
Biden heralded Davis’ decision to pursue a career in the Green Berets, despite warnings that the largely white special forces group could be discriminatory. Davis was awarded the medal for his actions in Vietnam, where he returned multiple times to the battlefield to drag wounded soldiers to safety – despite being shot twice himself.
“You are everything our nation is at our best: brave and big hearted, determined and devoted, selfless and steadfast,” Biden said.
