Medal of Honor recipients to tell their stories at Patriots Point on Friday
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) – Medal of Honor recipients will get special recognition at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum on Friday.
Several events marking National Medal of Honor Day will take place at the Medal of Honor Museum aboard the USS Yorktown on Friday. Medal of Honor recipients will be in attendance for the day.
“I said guys, we’re in the NFL now. This is the real deal. That’s what we’ve been training for for nine months.”
On May 2nd, 1968, Major General James Livingston was a Captain, and commanding company E 2nd Battalion 4th Marines to attack the Vietcong at Dai Do.
“We were going across 500 yards of rice patty and we were using intense firearm support from artillery mortars, helicopter gunships, naval gunfire, everything that we could shoot,” he recalled.
There were about 100 bunkers full of North Vietnamese.
“They were hunkered down in those bunkers where most of the Marines were shooting. We lost a lot of KIA‘s; were gunshot wounds through the head.”
Livingston was hit by grenade shrapnel a couple of times but refused medical treatment. They took the village.
“We took that particular part of the village. I had 180 Marines and after that part of the fight, they were only 35 of them effective. The rest of them had been killed or wounded.”
He led his 35 men back in to fight when another unit needed help bad.
“And I walked in front of a 50-caliber machine gun and got shot through the leg. Almost blew my leg off; I got hit by shrapnel and I got nicked with an AK, so I was sort of beat up a little bit.”
He told his men to leave since he could not walk. He would catch up with them later. They refused that option.
“Unfortunately, a couple of young Black marines said boss we’re not gonna leave you, so they drug me back with them and we were able to pull back in break contact with the North Vietnamese,” he said.
Livingston is one of 66 living medal of honor recipients. They will be honored throughout the day Friday on Medal of Honor Day at the Yorktown. There will also be a ceremony at Mt. Pleasant Town Hall.
There will also be four special Medal of Honor Day tours on the Yorktown. You can buy tickets along with a list of events by visiting Patriots Point online.
