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We post something new every week and 00:02:28.599 --> 00:02:33.680 you're going to find it informative. It is an 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:36.840 honor to welcome to Veterans Radio Medal of Honor 00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:40.639 recipient, Colonel Paris Davis. Colonel, welcome 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:43.370 to Veterans Radio. Well, thank you very much 00:02:43.370 --> 00:02:45.710 for inviting me. Well, this is an interesting 00:02:45.710 --> 00:02:48.449 story. You have a book coming out called Every 00:02:48.449 --> 00:02:51.789 Weapon I Had, A Vietnam Vet's Long Road to the 00:02:51.789 --> 00:02:54.469 Medal of Honor. And as I mentioned earlier with 00:02:54.469 --> 00:02:58.069 you, we had the chance to talk to two guys. We'll 00:02:58.069 --> 00:03:00.370 talk about them a little later, Jim Moriarty 00:03:00.370 --> 00:03:02.870 and Neil Thorn. We did an interview with them 00:03:02.870 --> 00:03:05.430 as they were trying to get your package up and 00:03:05.430 --> 00:03:08.349 approved for the medal upgrade to the Medal of 00:03:08.349 --> 00:03:10.530 Honor. They were successful, and you are now 00:03:11.020 --> 00:03:14.360 carrying that heavy weight of wearing the Medal 00:03:14.360 --> 00:03:20.439 of Honor. But let's start back at home. Cleveland, 00:03:20.759 --> 00:03:27.759 Ohio, boy. Your dad worked in a foundry. Your 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:31.680 mom and dad had nine kids. That's correct. You 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:34.099 had some uncles who lived with you, and we're 00:03:34.099 --> 00:03:37.400 gonna talk about one of the uncles, Uncle P .D. 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:42.599 Tell us a little bit about home life. Well, I 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:48.460 tell you it was really quiet It was very normal 00:03:48.460 --> 00:03:55.919 It took on a Tone of this own and when I say 00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:59.099 that I'm talking I'm talking about my mama say, 00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:03.819 okay I want you to go outside and get all the 00:04:03.819 --> 00:04:06.599 Rake the grass and cut the grass and so forth 00:04:06.599 --> 00:04:10.060 and so on and if I didn't do it the way she wanted 00:04:10.060 --> 00:04:14.229 it after giving me, I'm talking about instructions 00:04:14.229 --> 00:04:24.209 that were so small and so in her language that 00:04:24.209 --> 00:04:27.230 I always couldn't do what she wanted to say, 00:04:27.850 --> 00:04:31.600 then she would give me. a retrieve and if I didn't 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:34.519 get it at that time she said just go get a switch. 00:04:35.459 --> 00:04:39.199 Yeah you talk about there was family discipline 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:42.939 both of your mom and your dad and and there was 00:04:42.939 --> 00:04:46.720 chores and responsibilities everybody everybody 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:49.439 in the family had jobs to do around the house. 00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:54.779 It was pretty structured. Well it really was 00:04:54.779 --> 00:04:58.120 and the thing about it it didn't give you a lot 00:04:58.120 --> 00:05:02.370 of room to play with. When she says something 00:05:02.370 --> 00:05:06.990 and you know she was like Genghis Khan. I mean 00:05:06.990 --> 00:05:11.069 you do it or you're dead. And so she had this 00:05:11.069 --> 00:05:13.610 thing about her, she would look you right in 00:05:13.610 --> 00:05:17.430 the eye and say this needs to be done. Are there 00:05:17.430 --> 00:05:19.910 any questions after she explained what she wanted 00:05:19.910 --> 00:05:23.290 done? And I would either say yes or no, whatever. 00:05:24.329 --> 00:05:27.790 And then she said okay go after it. And the same 00:05:27.790 --> 00:05:33.250 thing about your homework that you had to do 00:05:33.250 --> 00:05:35.910 when you were in school, all those things had 00:05:35.910 --> 00:05:42.050 a place on her table. And if I had homework to 00:05:42.050 --> 00:05:44.389 do, she and my dad would go to bed, I don't know, 00:05:44.490 --> 00:05:47.329 nine or 10 o 'clock, and I would have that homework 00:05:47.329 --> 00:05:50.509 on the table. When I came down for breakfast, 00:05:50.529 --> 00:05:55.350 she would either have part of it lined through, 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:59.000 or would say okay or change this or change that 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:03.240 and that's just the way it was and when she told 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:06.519 you to do it you did it and then she did the 00:06:06.519 --> 00:06:11.420 result. Well you know learning you know responsibility 00:06:11.420 --> 00:06:15.720 your place in the order you know that there are 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:17.660 consequences if you don't do what you're supposed 00:06:17.660 --> 00:06:20.360 to do kind of all good valuable life lessons 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:23.519 weren't they? Well they really were and the other 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:28.860 thing is she would say it, the first time she 00:06:28.860 --> 00:06:31.279 would ask you to do something, she had already 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:35.379 done it once. So she knew exactly what she wanted, 00:06:35.819 --> 00:06:38.480 she would tell me how to do it and then I did 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:41.699 it. Now that just really followed over to the 00:06:41.699 --> 00:06:45.819 military. I remember, I hope I told you that 00:06:45.819 --> 00:06:50.100 way back when we were first operation, we had 00:06:50.100 --> 00:06:53.300 to go across a stream and it was pretty deep 00:06:53.300 --> 00:06:57.000 so forth and so on. and we had to tie off. I 00:06:57.000 --> 00:06:59.079 showed them the knot we wanted and everything 00:06:59.079 --> 00:07:01.639 else. When I got on the other side of the river, 00:07:01.899 --> 00:07:05.439 it seemed like they had more time than they needed 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:08.560 to get this thing squared away. And so when I 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:10.920 got on the other side, I said, hey, what the 00:07:10.920 --> 00:07:13.839 hell's going on here? And they said, well, we 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:16.000 can't figure out the knot that you wanted. I 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:18.139 said, that's bullshit. I already told you twice. 00:07:20.439 --> 00:07:23.519 And then I said, we either going to get this 00:07:23.550 --> 00:07:26.509 this thing done or when I come back I have two 00:07:26.509 --> 00:07:29.370 grades for both of you. I said there's no reason 00:07:29.370 --> 00:07:32.170 that you didn't pay attention. I said it's really 00:07:32.170 --> 00:07:35.449 smart on my part to make sure you had all the 00:07:35.449 --> 00:07:38.129 information you needed so you couldn't fuck it 00:07:38.129 --> 00:07:41.209 up. So mom's lessons are ringing ringing true 00:07:41.209 --> 00:07:45.930 right there she uh she her voice was in your 00:07:45.930 --> 00:07:49.649 head. Well I tell you the thing about it if you 00:07:49.649 --> 00:07:52.730 miss If you didn't understand what she was saying 00:07:52.730 --> 00:07:56.129 to you, and you didn't ask the question, like, 00:07:56.529 --> 00:08:00.790 what do you really want, Mom? What am I doing 00:08:00.790 --> 00:08:03.310 wrong? And she would either tell you or something. 00:08:03.670 --> 00:08:06.329 She told you twice, she would just say, go out 00:08:06.329 --> 00:08:08.050 and get a switch, and then you know you're gonna 00:08:08.050 --> 00:08:10.610 get your butt beat. So I mean, she would just, 00:08:10.790 --> 00:08:15.110 and the thing about it, when you have a little 00:08:15.110 --> 00:08:20.089 piece of... branch or whatever it, and it was 00:08:20.089 --> 00:08:23.550 still sort of orange in color, you know, or dark 00:08:23.550 --> 00:08:27.129 orange, you know, it really had some zing to 00:08:27.129 --> 00:08:29.810 it when she hit you. And so the thing about it 00:08:29.810 --> 00:08:32.830 is you wanted to try to make sure that when you 00:08:32.830 --> 00:08:34.889 did things like that, you did them correctly. 00:08:35.470 --> 00:08:38.519 To get back to what I was trying to say is Once 00:08:38.519 --> 00:08:41.860 you swim across the river, and they're still 00:08:41.860 --> 00:08:44.659 fucking around with, excuse me, they're still 00:08:44.659 --> 00:08:47.580 messing around with the knife. And you say, what 00:08:47.580 --> 00:08:49.820 the hell is going on here? And we can't decide 00:08:49.820 --> 00:08:52.779 on that. And then I said, you know what, this 00:08:52.779 --> 00:08:56.480 ain't gonna work. Either you're gonna leave here 00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:58.820 and talk to both of them, or I'm gonna have to 00:08:58.820 --> 00:09:01.360 leave here. But one of us is gonna be dead right 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:07.620 where you are. That's it. I'll be back in about 00:09:07.620 --> 00:09:10.240 20 minutes, I have something else to do and you 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:13.480 better have it done. So I should point out to 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:18.620 folks that Colonel Davis Army, Airborne, Rangers, 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:21.299 Special Forces, Green Beret, he doesn't put up 00:09:21.299 --> 00:09:24.720 with crap. And some of that sounds like it may 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:28.019 come from mom and dad, but things weren't all 00:09:28.019 --> 00:09:30.720 easy in the family growing up either. And really 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:33.500 there was sort of a change of pace when your 00:09:33.500 --> 00:09:39.039 older brother Barry got himself in a bad situation. 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:44.919 I think it was a burglary, ended up going to 00:09:44.919 --> 00:09:48.919 prison. I mean, that really cast a cloud over 00:09:48.919 --> 00:09:54.529 your growing up. and the family's dealings after 00:09:54.529 --> 00:10:01.330 that, didn't it? That's a great answer, and let 00:10:01.330 --> 00:10:04.990 me tell you why. We had an order in which you 00:10:04.990 --> 00:10:09.330 eat, you know, and kids were not first, they 00:10:09.330 --> 00:10:12.950 were last. Adults had worked, they had done their 00:10:12.950 --> 00:10:16.029 job, they were in a house that we really loved. 00:10:16.090 --> 00:10:18.990 and all those other kind of good things. So why 00:10:18.990 --> 00:10:21.509 couldn't you just play a little longer and let 00:10:21.509 --> 00:10:24.350 her cook a little less and let them eat first 00:10:24.350 --> 00:10:27.090 and what was left was for you. And it always 00:10:27.090 --> 00:10:30.889 worked out. And no one really pissed and moaned 00:10:30.889 --> 00:10:35.769 about it. And the other thing is you need to 00:10:35.769 --> 00:10:39.350 have someone with the gavel, they can punch it 00:10:39.350 --> 00:10:41.570 on a piece of wood and say, okay, that's all, 00:10:41.929 --> 00:10:45.110 next. It was just seeing that you wanna keep 00:10:45.110 --> 00:10:50.940 the at a level where everyone could enjoy because 00:10:50.940 --> 00:10:53.179 when you're in a house like that, you want to 00:10:53.179 --> 00:10:55.100 laugh and you want to do this and you want to 00:10:55.100 --> 00:10:59.320 do that. We had a little television that only 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:02.320 it was black and white and you know so and that's 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:04.820 the only colors you could get in and we enjoyed 00:11:04.820 --> 00:11:09.519 it. And the other thing is that you said two 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:15.110 things. I love my God and I love my mom and that 00:11:15.110 --> 00:11:18.370 just went everywhere and you know my dad was 00:11:18.370 --> 00:11:21.990 included and we just had a good time by doing 00:11:21.990 --> 00:11:25.830 it that way and the reason why I went to so much 00:11:25.830 --> 00:11:30.669 detail when you're in a situation like that I 00:11:30.669 --> 00:11:33.870 can remember when we first got to our camp the 00:11:33.870 --> 00:11:36.269 first night that we were there I slept in the 00:11:36.269 --> 00:11:40.649 doorway I wanted everyone on the team to know 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:44.440 that if somebody was gonna get killed, it was 00:11:44.440 --> 00:11:45.980 gonna be me, because they had to come through 00:11:45.980 --> 00:11:50.120 me to get to them. And I tried to do that throughout. 00:11:50.759 --> 00:11:54.379 You give them an example and you know that you've 00:11:54.379 --> 00:11:57.179 already done it, so they shouldn't have a problem 00:11:57.179 --> 00:12:00.700 about pissing and moaning and doing it. And you 00:12:00.700 --> 00:12:06.139 cut down on the noise and you cut you up. increase 00:12:06.139 --> 00:12:09.559 the fact that you could say something, it was 00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:12.059 gonna be done correctly, and then you could get 00:12:12.059 --> 00:12:16.419 going. I wanna talk about Uncle P .D. for a moment, 00:12:16.620 --> 00:12:19.679 because in reading your book, Every Weapon I 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:23.139 Had, I got the sense that Uncle P .D. was kind 00:12:23.139 --> 00:12:26.860 of one of those guys who pointed you in a good 00:12:26.860 --> 00:12:30.399 direction, he helped you get into Southern University. 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:34.120 But he was kind of a North Star, it sort of seemed 00:12:34.120 --> 00:12:37.639 to me. What was the relationship with Uncle P 00:12:37.639 --> 00:12:43.639 .D.? Well, I was named after him. I did not know 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:48.860 that for a long while because everybody called 00:12:48.860 --> 00:12:56.860 him P .D. and my dad and Brother John and Uncle 00:12:56.860 --> 00:13:01.690 Prince all called him P .D. The house was really 00:13:01.690 --> 00:13:03.970 big. And I think that was one of the reasons 00:13:03.970 --> 00:13:08.429 why everything went as well as it did is because 00:13:08.429 --> 00:13:11.669 everyone had to contribute to the payment of 00:13:11.669 --> 00:13:13.610 the mortgage and so forth. And so I'm talking 00:13:13.610 --> 00:13:16.690 about my other three uncles that lived there. 00:13:17.350 --> 00:13:21.299 And so that really worked out very nicely. and 00:13:21.299 --> 00:13:24.580 when someone was sick, my mom was there. We called 00:13:24.580 --> 00:13:28.580 in the help that needed to be there, the doctor, 00:13:28.659 --> 00:13:31.659 whatever it might be. And it just worked out 00:13:31.659 --> 00:13:36.559 so that people could have their space in a crowded 00:13:36.559 --> 00:13:40.159 room. And it's, one of the things I think it 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:42.940 was PD who kind of, and maybe it was your mom, 00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:46.700 really pointed to was the whole idea that reading 00:13:47.210 --> 00:13:50.269 I know this sounds trite, right? Reading is fundamental. 00:13:52.429 --> 00:13:57.409 Reading and education was something that they 00:13:57.409 --> 00:14:02.250 really wanted for you, Paris. Well, you're absolutely 00:14:02.250 --> 00:14:09.269 right. And the other thing was every day we would 00:14:09.269 --> 00:14:14.100 read a paragraph out of a paper or out of the 00:14:14.100 --> 00:14:18.200 book that we were supposed to know so that she 00:14:18.200 --> 00:14:21.840 could be in there cooking and whatever and she 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:25.399 could hear the person reading and the others 00:14:25.399 --> 00:14:28.500 would be in there listening and sometimes she 00:14:28.500 --> 00:14:31.590 would make sure that I was in the middle. and 00:14:31.590 --> 00:14:34.850 one brother and her sister could be on each side. 00:14:35.070 --> 00:14:36.950 So all three of us were reading the same thing 00:14:36.950 --> 00:14:39.830 at the same time. And she would either tell me 00:14:39.830 --> 00:14:43.269 I did a good job or whatever. And sometimes she 00:14:43.269 --> 00:14:45.789 would have one of the other kids to read what 00:14:45.789 --> 00:14:50.029 I just finished just to make sure that they understood 00:14:50.029 --> 00:14:53.730 the words that they were speaking and the meaning 00:14:53.730 --> 00:14:56.789 that they got from reading what I had just read. 00:14:57.799 --> 00:14:59.860 We're spending a little time on this, veteran 00:14:59.860 --> 00:15:02.740 radio listeners, as we talk to Medal of Honor 00:15:02.740 --> 00:15:05.879 recipient, Colonel Paris Davis, because you can 00:15:05.879 --> 00:15:08.039 go read, and we'll talk a little bit about the 00:15:08.039 --> 00:15:11.700 battle that earned him this distinction. But 00:15:11.700 --> 00:15:14.960 he's giving you now sort of the foundation, the 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:18.779 bedrock of the man he became, the man he displayed 00:15:18.779 --> 00:15:22.639 in Vietnam. And along the way, the family kind 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:26.179 of nudged you to college, and you ended up at 00:15:26.179 --> 00:15:28.580 Southern University in Baton Rouge, I believe. 00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:32.860 And again, that was sort of through some efforts 00:15:32.860 --> 00:15:36.159 of your uncle PD, who was kind of maybe guiding 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:42.279 you with a hand. I'm glad you said that, because 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:47.820 I didn't know what I wanted to do. And he had 00:15:47.820 --> 00:15:50.500 a friend and I want to say his name was Ernest 00:15:50.500 --> 00:15:53.379 or something like that, who was teaching at Southern 00:15:53.379 --> 00:15:58.320 University. And he called him and it took him 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:01.620 about three or four phone calls before he got 00:16:01.620 --> 00:16:05.320 to him and told him what he wanted to do. The 00:16:05.320 --> 00:16:11.139 person Ernest, Mr. Ernest, sent up an application 00:16:11.139 --> 00:16:13.700 and all the other kinds of things that he needed 00:16:13.700 --> 00:16:17.960 to do because he was an instructor down at Southern 00:16:17.960 --> 00:16:22.039 University and he was able to get me into the 00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:25.960 university. My grades were pretty good and were 00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:32.700 really good and he felt that I could really do 00:16:32.700 --> 00:16:37.259 well down there and so he spent a lot of money 00:16:37.259 --> 00:16:40.039 at that time you know if you wanted to make a 00:16:40.039 --> 00:16:42.980 phone call you had to put the the coins in the 00:16:42.980 --> 00:16:48.120 machine before you could get a voice and so after 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:51.360 we went somewhere because our phone wasn't working 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:54.759 and he had all that change in his pocket and 00:16:54.759 --> 00:16:57.759 he kept putting in quarters and nickels and dimes 00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:00.480 when the operator would say your time's up and 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:03.320 we would discontinue until we got all the things 00:17:03.320 --> 00:17:08.559 set up. And sure enough, he sent up the application 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:13.220 and they went down to Southern University and 00:17:13.220 --> 00:17:20.609 he told me that I was over the a goal line he 00:17:20.609 --> 00:17:24.190 said something like that and he said you've done 00:17:24.190 --> 00:17:27.250 well but I tell you when you come here I'm not 00:17:27.250 --> 00:17:28.950 going to let up on you I've talked with your 00:17:28.950 --> 00:17:31.049 uncle and he and I are friends and been friends 00:17:31.049 --> 00:17:34.349 and he told me that he thinks you could do it 00:17:34.349 --> 00:17:37.269 down here and I'm going to see if you can do 00:17:37.269 --> 00:17:40.490 it down here and if you do he's going to be really 00:17:40.490 --> 00:17:42.369 really proud of you but I tell you the other 00:17:42.369 --> 00:17:46.450 thing is You know this better than I do. Your 00:17:46.450 --> 00:17:48.890 mom is giving him permission. If he sees you 00:17:48.890 --> 00:17:51.710 doing something wrong, he tells you a second 00:17:51.710 --> 00:17:55.789 time, you're going to get your butt kicked. Mom 00:17:55.789 --> 00:17:57.789 knows how to keep you on the straight and narrow. 00:17:59.329 --> 00:18:05.650 And it's important to stop on these things and 00:18:05.650 --> 00:18:10.029 sort of, you know, today we use words like mentors, 00:18:10.289 --> 00:18:14.700 right? Uncle PD, his friend down at Southern 00:18:14.700 --> 00:18:17.559 University, they were guiding you. They were 00:18:17.559 --> 00:18:21.440 mentors, if you will, outside the family, outside 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:26.140 the mom -dad circle. And as you said, you didn't 00:18:26.140 --> 00:18:27.880 know where you wanted to go or go to college 00:18:27.880 --> 00:18:31.539 or what you were gonna study, but a lot of life 00:18:31.539 --> 00:18:33.240 is sort of like, I don't know where I'm going, 00:18:33.299 --> 00:18:35.019 but somebody points me in the right direction, 00:18:35.299 --> 00:18:39.119 and you ended up getting involved with ROTC. 00:18:39.400 --> 00:18:42.700 down at Southern University for the very practical 00:18:42.700 --> 00:18:44.799 reason most people do is that they needed to 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:47.299 pay for college. They needed a little spending 00:18:47.299 --> 00:18:50.920 money, but the ROTC be kind of, you know, little 00:18:50.920 --> 00:18:53.960 did you know at the time you joined, you were 00:18:53.960 --> 00:18:57.000 gonna have this, what it was, 25 year career 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:01.559 in the Army. Talk a little bit about how being 00:19:01.559 --> 00:19:08.460 in the ROTC shaped you. This is so important. 00:19:08.809 --> 00:19:14.009 to me that you asked that question. Because even 00:19:14.009 --> 00:19:16.910 though Southern University was a black college, 00:19:17.609 --> 00:19:22.990 we have white instructors, especially in ROTC 00:19:22.990 --> 00:19:25.569 because the Army don't care what color you are. 00:19:27.309 --> 00:19:34.950 And so when I got there, I was waiting to be 00:19:34.950 --> 00:19:39.039 weighted on and this Sergeant came up and I didn't 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:42.180 even know who he was. He said, what are you doing 00:19:42.180 --> 00:19:45.680 now? I said, I'm waiting to see whether or not 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:48.500 I'm accepted or not. He said, if you have an 00:19:48.500 --> 00:19:50.779 application like that, you're accepted. He said, 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:54.140 let me ask you a question. Do you want a job? 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:59.059 And I said, I don't know. I haven't even signed 00:19:59.059 --> 00:20:01.319 in yet. He said, you know what? One of these 00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:03.779 days, I hope you're gonna graduate and you're 00:20:03.779 --> 00:20:09.259 gonna need a job. And he stayed with me that 00:20:09.259 --> 00:20:11.799 whole time that I was at Southern University. 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:14.660 And each time he would see me, he would tell 00:20:14.660 --> 00:20:17.539 me something about the Army and the way I needed 00:20:17.539 --> 00:20:22.339 to do it, do it for civilians. And so, I mean, 00:20:22.619 --> 00:20:25.519 the thing about it, he would just, every once 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:28.980 in a while, he would try to get my grades and 00:20:28.980 --> 00:20:32.470 everything else and tell me if I needed to. work 00:20:32.470 --> 00:20:35.970 on math or geometry or whatever it was he said 00:20:35.970 --> 00:20:39.470 there's no reason why you have to be dumb he 00:20:39.470 --> 00:20:42.089 said wow there's there there's a there's a pretty 00:20:42.089 --> 00:20:46.309 direct statement right and again you know this 00:20:46.309 --> 00:20:49.109 larger issue of mentors somebody helping you 00:20:49.109 --> 00:20:52.309 along the way and you don't fight it you you 00:20:52.309 --> 00:20:56.789 right you take the advice and internalize it 00:20:56.789 --> 00:20:59.329 and that's part of how you keep growing isn't 00:20:59.329 --> 00:21:02.930 it Well, it really is. And the thing about it, 00:21:03.450 --> 00:21:07.549 you meet a person who sees you in line and comes 00:21:07.549 --> 00:21:11.210 up and says, well, Sergeant Cook, so forth and 00:21:11.210 --> 00:21:13.970 so on. What are you doing here? Well, I'm trying 00:21:13.970 --> 00:21:16.549 to register. He said, that's going to be fine. 00:21:16.890 --> 00:21:19.769 But when you're finished, will you need a job? 00:21:21.269 --> 00:21:24.349 And every time he would see me at the end of 00:21:24.349 --> 00:21:27.130 a semester, he said, you're doing fine. But when 00:21:27.130 --> 00:21:28.950 you're finished, you're going to need a job. 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:33.319 And Doug Gunnett, I was in the ROTC program, 00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:38.240 he told me first what it was about and then taught 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:41.019 me the things that I needed to know. Uniforms 00:21:41.019 --> 00:21:44.019 that you had to wear, so forth and so on. Times 00:21:44.019 --> 00:21:47.420 you had to be at class or... this position or 00:21:47.420 --> 00:21:50.259 that place and he kept me right on the nose. 00:21:50.500 --> 00:21:53.119 I mean, I was doing things, I wanted to be there 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:55.839 four or five minutes or maybe time, sometimes 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:58.779 longer than that so that I didn't disappoint 00:21:58.779 --> 00:22:03.279 him. I was more afraid of disappointing him than 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:06.839 I was in passing the class. Well again, those 00:22:06.839 --> 00:22:09.700 are valuable lessons and this is the foundation, 00:22:10.220 --> 00:22:12.859 veteran radio listeners, of Medal of Honor recipient. 00:22:14.099 --> 00:22:18.019 Colonel Paris Davis, this gives you a sense of 00:22:18.019 --> 00:22:21.220 his foundation, of the man that he was taking 00:22:21.220 --> 00:22:23.859 into the army where he spent his professional 00:22:23.859 --> 00:22:31.799 career, if you will, earned your way up to full 00:22:31.799 --> 00:22:36.180 Colonel rank. But during that, you spent time 00:22:36.180 --> 00:22:41.880 in Vietnam in June of 1965 at Bong Son Dinh Binh 00:22:41.880 --> 00:22:46.710 Province. You were in with small units training 00:22:46.710 --> 00:22:51.009 locals. This was really what Green Berets did. 00:22:51.529 --> 00:22:56.029 Tell us a little bit about what that work was 00:22:56.029 --> 00:23:01.390 for you at that time. Well, the way it started 00:23:01.390 --> 00:23:07.990 was that I was in college and President Kennedy 00:23:07.990 --> 00:23:13.910 had just won the nomination. I wrote a letter 00:23:13.910 --> 00:23:17.769 to him. It was a short letter and all I said 00:23:17.769 --> 00:23:21.670 is that I saw it in the paper. I heard it on 00:23:21.670 --> 00:23:25.930 the radio. I like to do what you're saying. And 00:23:25.930 --> 00:23:31.190 I didn't get a letter back. I finished my college 00:23:31.190 --> 00:23:39.599 and so forth and so on. I got a letter later 00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:44.480 on just before I was ready to try to find a job 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:49.200 and it was from the Army. It said you're going 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:53.619 to be going to IOBC infantry officer basic course 00:23:53.619 --> 00:23:58.079 and we'll be sending you two things, a bus ticket 00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:01.140 to the station and an airplane ride to where 00:24:01.140 --> 00:24:06.299 we are. And I got both of them. And so it was 00:24:06.299 --> 00:24:10.420 a matter of him coming to me and said, this is 00:24:10.420 --> 00:24:14.000 a job I was talking about. He said, you can really, 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:17.660 really do it well, or you can ham it up. If you 00:24:17.660 --> 00:24:21.460 ham it up, I never want to see you again. And 00:24:21.460 --> 00:24:24.079 the reason being, you ought to be smart enough 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:26.079 to get this thing done the right way the first 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:31.220 time. And so I got on the bus and went to the 00:24:31.220 --> 00:24:34.539 airport. And it was just scared to death because 00:24:34.539 --> 00:24:36.920 I'd never been to an airport and had never been 00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:41.359 on a bus that size. And so I did both of them. 00:24:41.400 --> 00:24:45.140 And luckily, when I got to the airport, I got 00:24:45.140 --> 00:24:49.450 some help to go to the different... the place 00:24:49.450 --> 00:24:54.910 I need to go to to get on the airplane and they 00:24:54.910 --> 00:24:57.170 helped me there and so forth. And I had a note 00:24:57.170 --> 00:24:59.789 that my uncle had written and it was enough. 00:25:00.009 --> 00:25:02.029 He said, just give this to the attendant and 00:25:02.029 --> 00:25:04.920 you'll be okay. And so I finally got to Southern 00:25:04.920 --> 00:25:08.039 University and Mr. Ernest was there and he picked 00:25:08.039 --> 00:25:12.180 me up, carried me to his house and gave me a 00:25:12.180 --> 00:25:15.119 meal or something. He said, we'll get you in 00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:19.200 school and we'll see how this works out. So you 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:21.400 start as a guy who's never been on an airplane 00:25:21.400 --> 00:25:25.339 and ultimately you qualify for Army Airborne 00:25:25.339 --> 00:25:30.759 with all the jumps. Then Ranger School, then 00:25:30.759 --> 00:25:34.279 Special Forces, Green Beret. You kind of overcame 00:25:34.279 --> 00:25:38.180 all of those little firsts and fears, didn't 00:25:38.180 --> 00:25:45.380 you? Right, and when I got to Fort Benning, I'm 00:25:45.380 --> 00:25:48.720 running or walking and trying to figure out what 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:51.559 the devil's going on. So I'm in the middle of 00:25:51.559 --> 00:25:54.819 nowhere, and this person comes up to me and he 00:25:54.819 --> 00:25:58.019 said, What are you doing here? And I said, I'm 00:25:58.019 --> 00:26:02.480 trying to find out where I go to make sure that 00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:04.380 I'm registered. And he said, you're looking at 00:26:04.380 --> 00:26:06.680 a registration at me. Come on in here with me. 00:26:06.740 --> 00:26:09.059 And don't say a damn thing unless I talk to you. 00:26:09.799 --> 00:26:11.920 And so I went in there with the sergeant and 00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:16.599 he sat me down and we talked a little bit about 00:26:16.599 --> 00:26:19.799 Cleveland and some other things. And he said, 00:26:19.980 --> 00:26:23.380 look, when you go in, you're in the military. 00:26:23.420 --> 00:26:27.400 You're gonna be in the military. I hope because 00:26:27.400 --> 00:26:30.180 we have to sign you up real quick because you're 00:26:30.180 --> 00:26:33.319 about to graduate. you know you're in the 11th 00:26:33.319 --> 00:26:35.880 grade and you need to have this on your record 00:26:35.880 --> 00:26:39.299 so you can earn a little money and we can learn 00:26:39.299 --> 00:26:41.900 you a little bit about the army and if we get 00:26:41.900 --> 00:26:44.359 both of those going together you're going to 00:26:44.359 --> 00:26:47.440 be okay and that's just what happened and i saw 00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:50.019 him a couple three times the first time was he 00:26:50.019 --> 00:26:52.779 he told me that i was out there wandering around 00:26:52.779 --> 00:26:56.119 not knowing where the devil i was and he pulled 00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:59.839 me that's right he pulled me inside he said what 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:01.299 are you doing out here?" I said, I'm trying to 00:27:01.299 --> 00:27:02.759 figure out what I'm supposed to do. He said, 00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:05.220 come with me, you're going to airborne school. 00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:15.700 And you said, okay. I probably choked on it a 00:27:15.700 --> 00:27:19.240 couple of three times. But anyhow, he finally 00:27:19.240 --> 00:27:26.759 got me in there. And once he asked me for my 00:27:26.759 --> 00:27:30.710 telephone number and I had, I said, This is my 00:27:30.710 --> 00:27:32.710 mom and he said, that's the person I want to 00:27:32.710 --> 00:27:36.869 speak to. And they had a conversation about me 00:27:36.869 --> 00:27:40.369 being at Southern University and he was going 00:27:40.369 --> 00:27:42.670 to really look out for me. He knew I was there 00:27:42.670 --> 00:27:46.569 by myself and he wanted to make sure that I could 00:27:46.569 --> 00:27:49.630 do all the things that the Army would help me 00:27:49.630 --> 00:27:54.170 with and that my mom would love me all the more 00:27:54.170 --> 00:27:58.089 if I did a good job. And that was the initial 00:27:58.089 --> 00:28:01.890 conversation I had with him. And then he said, 00:28:02.069 --> 00:28:04.849 you know, there's one thing you don't know a 00:28:04.849 --> 00:28:06.910 lot about and I'm going to give you a job doing 00:28:06.910 --> 00:28:08.710 that. I said, what's that? He said, cleaning 00:28:08.710 --> 00:28:15.190 up shit. He said, you're going to go into that 00:28:15.190 --> 00:28:17.069 laboratory over there and you're going to clean 00:28:17.069 --> 00:28:21.170 up all this shit that's not in the toilet. Well, 00:28:21.349 --> 00:28:24.390 hey, there's a job for everybody, right? Yeah, 00:28:24.549 --> 00:28:26.329 I'm sorry, I didn't mean to curse on your program. 00:28:26.890 --> 00:28:29.990 Before we run out of too much time, I'm going 00:28:29.990 --> 00:28:35.009 to skip over the June 1965 battle of Bung Song, 00:28:35.269 --> 00:28:39.089 where your actions resulted in you ultimately 00:28:39.089 --> 00:28:43.710 earning the Medal of Honor. You also received 00:28:43.710 --> 00:28:46.650 the Silver Star, which got upgraded. You received 00:28:46.650 --> 00:28:49.130 a number of Purple Hearts, because you got shut 00:28:49.130 --> 00:28:54.559 to pieces. You saved a number of your men's lives 00:28:54.559 --> 00:28:58.539 in combat. This fight took, on this hill, took 00:28:58.539 --> 00:29:03.200 about 24 hours, and it's estimated as many as 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:07.900 1 ,400 Viet Cong were dead at the end of this. 00:29:08.119 --> 00:29:10.859 The battlefield was just littered with them as 00:29:10.859 --> 00:29:13.039 they kept throwing waves after waves at you. 00:29:13.759 --> 00:29:16.559 I'm gonna skip this a little bit because anybody 00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:19.420 really interested in that story should read the 00:29:19.420 --> 00:29:23.500 book, every weapon I had. But you can also find 00:29:23.500 --> 00:29:28.140 all kinds of reports about the battle, about 00:29:28.140 --> 00:29:31.119 Colonel Davis. I went back and looked at one 00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:33.539 you mentioned in the book. because I could find 00:29:33.539 --> 00:29:37.940 it online, and I figured I could. It's a March 00:29:37.940 --> 00:29:44.400 1969 show with Phil Donahue with you and fellow 00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:49.420 veteran Rondiz talking about Bobby Brown, Robert 00:29:49.420 --> 00:29:52.460 Dennis Brown, who was shot in the head during 00:29:52.460 --> 00:29:58.819 that battle and ultimately died in 1969. But 00:29:58.819 --> 00:30:02.829 that's a really good snippet explaining the battle. 00:30:02.950 --> 00:30:04.809 So we're not going to spend a lot of time on 00:30:04.809 --> 00:30:12.130 that. What I want to turn to though is your story 00:30:12.130 --> 00:30:15.829 is unique in that it took 50 years for you to 00:30:15.829 --> 00:30:20.490 get recognized for this. And fortunately you're 00:30:20.490 --> 00:30:26.759 still kicking when it happened. Your package 00:30:26.759 --> 00:30:30.180 was, and folks who don't know, you have to put 00:30:30.180 --> 00:30:33.740 in a very extensive package for a Medal of Honor 00:30:33.740 --> 00:30:38.039 to be considered. The individual, Colonel Davis 00:30:38.039 --> 00:30:40.400 didn't submit this, people submit this on his 00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:43.460 behalf. It started right after the battle with 00:30:43.460 --> 00:30:46.220 Major Cole, who submitted the package and it 00:30:46.220 --> 00:30:49.799 got lost, and it got lost I think in 65, 69, 00:30:50.059 --> 00:30:55.630 20, 2013. A whole bunch of times, You're not 00:30:55.630 --> 00:30:57.890 sitting around, you know, wringing your hands 00:30:57.890 --> 00:31:02.069 hoping you get the package approved. You're just 00:31:02.069 --> 00:31:05.009 going on with life, and this is all this noise 00:31:05.009 --> 00:31:07.710 going on in the background. Explain this a little 00:31:07.710 --> 00:31:11.049 bit to folks who go, a 50 -year journey, what 00:31:11.049 --> 00:31:16.910 the heck? Let me start with, and this won't be 00:31:16.910 --> 00:31:21.930 very long, that the team I had was all white. 00:31:23.130 --> 00:31:27.220 They're just, because you had to be able to swim 00:31:27.220 --> 00:31:31.599 and you had to be able to speak a language and 00:31:31.599 --> 00:31:38.519 when I was in charge of the team there I knew 00:31:38.519 --> 00:31:41.480 that my time was almost up and I had been wounded 00:31:41.480 --> 00:31:45.460 a couple of times and what happened there Hubbard 00:31:45.460 --> 00:31:52.640 who was my senior medic and also a cook and he 00:31:52.670 --> 00:31:54.829 asked me to come there because some of the team 00:31:54.829 --> 00:31:58.589 wanted to speak with me. And what they said was, 00:31:59.910 --> 00:32:02.569 if you get wounded again, we're not going to 00:32:02.569 --> 00:32:05.269 put it in. If you get wounded after that, we're 00:32:05.269 --> 00:32:07.650 not going to put it in because we want you to 00:32:07.650 --> 00:32:10.910 stay as our commander. And he said, if it's okay 00:32:10.910 --> 00:32:14.369 with you, I've talked with the whole team and 00:32:14.369 --> 00:32:16.569 we're not gonna put in all the time that you've 00:32:16.569 --> 00:32:19.509 been wounded or anything else because if we get 00:32:19.509 --> 00:32:22.210 a third one in there, they're gonna pull you 00:32:22.210 --> 00:32:25.569 and put you somewhere else. So if you don't mind, 00:32:25.690 --> 00:32:29.730 we're not gonna say anything. So that happened. 00:32:30.450 --> 00:32:33.950 And the reason why that is so important is that 00:32:33.950 --> 00:32:37.089 when they started trying to figure out about 00:32:37.089 --> 00:32:41.430 the medal and all that, all these white soldiers 00:32:41.430 --> 00:32:46.710 took the time to write their parents and their 00:32:46.710 --> 00:32:52.190 people in the government to see what the devil 00:32:52.190 --> 00:32:56.730 happened. And they wouldn't let it go. When they 00:32:56.730 --> 00:32:59.109 would go home, they would always go to their 00:32:59.109 --> 00:33:02.809 congressmen or whatever and get a reason why 00:33:02.809 --> 00:33:07.250 it hasn't moved, so forth and so on. And I think 00:33:07.359 --> 00:33:12.440 The reason why it finally will start moving is 00:33:12.440 --> 00:33:14.779 the fact that when you're that close with your 00:33:14.779 --> 00:33:17.680 team, they don't want you to leave and they want 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:22.039 you to do the best you can to. to get through 00:33:22.039 --> 00:33:24.740 this thing. And that's when they called their 00:33:24.740 --> 00:33:29.920 parents and other people to call, call your congressman 00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:33.400 thus and so, so far, so we can see if we can 00:33:33.400 --> 00:33:37.619 get this thing done. And that was the part that 00:33:37.619 --> 00:33:42.460 I thought was Paris Davis knew about. And I'll 00:33:42.460 --> 00:33:45.640 tell you, when they first told me that I had 00:33:45.640 --> 00:33:49.029 a tear or two. You often find that these Medal 00:33:49.029 --> 00:33:51.930 of Honor recipients are not only just regular 00:33:51.930 --> 00:33:54.930 human beings who did extraordinary things, but 00:33:54.930 --> 00:33:59.170 also generally very humble guys. And it's a great 00:33:59.170 --> 00:34:04.349 honor to talk to Paris Davis. He has a new book 00:34:04.349 --> 00:34:08.570 out, Every Weapon I Had. I would encourage you 00:34:08.570 --> 00:34:12.239 to... Track it down, read it, and learn more 00:34:12.239 --> 00:34:14.579 about his stories. You can find them all over 00:34:14.579 --> 00:34:17.539 the place because it did take about 50 years 00:34:17.539 --> 00:34:20.880 to move this along. There's a great interview 00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:24.920 with him explaining the battle on a Phil Donahue 00:34:24.920 --> 00:34:28.539 show. You can find that on YouTube by a simple 00:34:28.539 --> 00:34:31.340 search. So do some more reading, do some more 00:34:31.340 --> 00:34:33.059 investigating. You're going to find this interesting 00:34:33.059 --> 00:34:35.980 and pass it on. This is history that should not 00:34:35.980 --> 00:34:39.320 be forgotten. And I want to thank everybody for 00:34:39.320 --> 00:34:42.900 listening to Veterans Radio today. I am Jim Fossone. 00:34:43.219 --> 00:34:45.460 It's been a pleasure to be your host. I'm a Veterans 00:34:45.460 --> 00:34:48.199 disability lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans 00:34:48.199 --> 00:34:55.320 and you can reach us at 800 -693 -4800 or legalhelpforveterans 00:34:55.320 --> 00:34:58.539 .com on the web. You can follow Veterans Radio 00:34:58.539 --> 00:35:01.840 on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet 00:35:01.840 --> 00:35:06.260 radio shows by visiting us at veteransradio .org. 00:35:06.429 --> 00:35:09.929 That's veteransradio .org. 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