William Pitsenbarger was 21 when he sacrificed his life for others. He was born in Ohio on July 8, 1944. As a high school junior, he tried to enlist in the Marines, but his parents refused to sign off. After graduating, he enlisted in the Air Force and volunteered for pararescue. He went through several schools including parachute school, survival school, a rescue and survival medical course. He was temporarily sent to Vietnam, but volunteered to remain. He participated in over 250 missions and helped save over 60 wounded soldiers. He was decorated for rescuing a wounded South Vietnamese soldier from a burning minefield by lowering himself in a hoist.
On April 11, 1966, his HH-43F Husky was called to help a unit from the 1st Division which was being ambushed by a larger Viet Cong unit. Pits was off duty, but insisted on going. The helicopter arrived while the battle was still going on. He was lowered by hoist because there was no place for the chopper to land in the thick jungle terrain. He was lowered to the ground and began working with the wounded. He fashioned splints and stretchers out of branches and vines. When the helicopter returned for a second load, it came under fire and would not be able to return. Pitsenbarger crewmates urged him to ascend. He waved them off. He continued to aid the wounded, but also gathered ammo from the dead and distributed it to the men defending the perimeter. The Americans were targeted with mortars and machine gun fire. As things got hairier, he grabbed a rifle and helped in the defense. Sometimes during the night he was killed by snipers. His body had five bullet wounds. The VC broke contact before dawn and an American unit reached the survivors. The unit had suffered 80% casualties.
William was nominated for the Medal of Honor, but an Army general downgraded it to the Air Force Cross. He claimed there was not enough evidence, but is much more likely that an Army general did not want to give the Medal of Honor to an Air Force pararescueman. After all, there were plenty of eyewitnesses to his bravery. It took decades to right the injustice. On Dec. 8, 2000, his father received his posthumous Medal of Honor. At the ceremony were survivors of the action and hundreds of pararescue personnel. In 2018, a movie about him was released entitled “The Last Full Measure”.
https://www.military.com/history/airman-1st-class-william-h-pitsenbarger-profile.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Pitsenbarger
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