On Jan. 10, 1968, U.S. Army Spec. 5 Clarence E. Sasser
earned the Medal of Honor in Vietnam as a member of Headquarters Company, 3rd
Battalion, 60th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division in Ding Tuong Province,
Republic of Vietnam.
Sasser’s Medal of Honor citation describes his valorous
deeds, when he sought out wounded Soldiers from his unit and provided medical
care. After his legs were injured, he continued by crawling to provide aid.
“I’m particularly proud that my Medal of Honor was for being
a medic and was for saving lives, rather than taking lives,” he said. “It’s a
source of pleasure with me to have received it for that.”
According to his Medal of Honor citation, Sasser’s company
was making an air assault when it took heavy small arms, recoilless rifle, machinegun
and rocket fire from fortified enemy positions on three sides of the landing
zone.
During the first few minutes, more than 30 casualties were
sustained. Without hesitation, Sasser ran across an open rice paddy through a
hail of fire to assist the wounded. After helping one man to safety, he was
wounded in the left shoulder by fragments of an exploding rocket. Refusing
medical attention, he ran through a barrage of rocket and automatic weapons
fire to aid casualties of the initial attack and, after giving them urgently
needed treatment, continued to search for other wounded.
Despite two additional wounds immobilizing his legs, Sasser
dragged himself through the mud toward another soldier 100 meters away.
Although in pain and faint from loss of blood, Sasser
reached the man, treated him and proceeded on to encourage another group of
soldiers to crawl 200 meters to safety. He then attended to their wounds for
five hours until they were evacuated.