James Allen Taylor

On 9 November 1967, American armoured cavalry attacking a fortified enemy position west of Que Son in South Vietnam came under intense fire. Recoilless rifles struck their vehicles, mortars burst around them and automatic weapons swept the battlefield. Among the soldiers caught in the fighting was First Lieutenant James Allen Taylor, whose repeated rescues would earn him the Medal of Honor.
Taylor was the executive officer of Troop B, 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry, serving with the Americal Division. When an armoured cavalry assault vehicle was hit, all five crewmen were wounded. With ammunition exploding and the vehicle threatening to blow up, the men urgently needed help.
Taylor ran forward through the enemy fire. Reaching the stricken vehicle, he pulled the wounded crewmen out and moved them to safety. It was the first of several occasions that day when he would leave the protection of his own vehicle to reach men trapped in danger.
Within minutes, another cavalry vehicle took several recoilless-rifle hits and caught fire. Taylor went forward again on foot, reaching the wounded crew and bringing them to shelter behind a nearby dike. Moments after the men were clear, their vehicle exploded.
As Taylor returned towards his own vehicle, a mortar burst wounded him. He continued working to get the casualties evacuated, moving his vehicle so that the evacuation point could be brought closer to the fighting. Shortening that journey meant wounded men could receive help sooner, but the move exposed him to fresh danger.
An enemy machine gun opened fire from less than fifty yards away. Taylor answered with his own machine gun, killing its three-man crew. When he reached the new evacuation site, another American vehicle was struck. Once more, he went forward, recovered the wounded and carried them back aboard his vehicle.
Taylor survived the battle. On 19 November 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson presented him with the Medal of Honor. By then a captain, he was recognised for actions that had saved fellow soldiers and helped his troop carry its assault through.
His story rests on a succession of extraordinary decisions. Each time another vehicle was hit, Taylor went back into the fire. Even after being wounded, he continued reaching the men who needed him. For the crews he brought out alive, his courage made the difference between being trapped beside an exploding vehicle and reaching safety.