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We post something new every week and you're going
to find it informative. We want to welcome to
Veterans Radio today Medal of Honor recipient
Ken David. He received the medal in January of
2025 from President Biden for his activities
in Vietnam in May 7th of 1970 near fire support
base Marine. Ken, welcome to Veterans Radio.
Well, thank you very much sir. It's a pleasure
to be here today. Well, we're glad to have you
on and talk a little bit about your service and
certainly the significance and if you will weight
in responsibility of being a Medal of Honor recipient.
Let me back this up and explain it a little bit
to some folks. Ken David was drafted into the
Army in August of 1969. He served primarily as
a radio telephone operator with the 101st Airborne
Division in Vietnam. However, once you get in
a firefight, It's every man's got to grab a gun
and a rifle and do what needs to be done. What
happened on this day near a fire support based
Marine was an ambush early in the morning on
May 7th as many as 300 enemy fighters zeroed
in on Company D's 50 or 60 soldiers and your
platoon leader was killed almost immediately.
A number of other folks were in the leadership
structure were Wounded and you had to hand off
the radio and and move to a defensive perimeter
firing at the enemy And you were recognized Although
wounded you had repeatedly exposed yourself to
enemy fire Directing fire from the enemy and
also trying to direct where your comrades were
supposed to be firing so one hellish day on May
7th 1970 and I'm sure I'm not doing it justice,
but Do you want to reflect a little bit on that,
Ken? Sure. We went in on a company assault on
May 5th and after six helicopters landed, enemy
opened fire and popped red smoke and the other
18 or so helicopters veered away until we secured
the mountaintop. Then they came in and Next day,
we did a search around the base, and everything
was calm. And then the morning of May 7, the
Sappers come after us, which is like their enemy
special forces. And I just did a radio check
with the guys. We don't talk, we just... On ER,
it was certain clicks on the radio, because it
was so quiet in the jungle. And I just had a
good radio check from the other squads. And right
after that, everything broke loose. And not knowing
I was the only one left alive that could still
fight, even though I was wounded and didn't know
I was wounded, I did what I was trained to do.
At one point when I came to, I was knocked out
for quite a while. That was eyeball to eyeball
with them. I just did what I had to do. And then
finally, one of the guys from the rear, Greg,
he come up to support me and he got shot. And
daylight came, they come, yeah. The other platoon
that was down at the base of the mountain got
ambushed coming up to try to help us. Finally,
they made it. And you just, when you're 20 years
old and fighting for your life, you do things
you don't even know, don't even know you're wounded.
The adrenaline was pumping so high that afterwards
is when I said ouch. That's an understatement.
Ouch. Ouch. And my eardrums are blown out. My
jungler shirt looked like a screen from RPG shrapnel
behind us. My back was full of shrapnel. They
put like a field dressing on, which is probably
two foot by two foot over on my back. I remember
that. Out of the 18 of us in second platoon that
was on the mountain, there was 14 Purple Hearts,
seven killed in action, and I was able to save
some of the guys. Yeah, this is one of those,
you know, you were a 20 -year -old kid. You were
doing what you needed to do to save yourself,
and the men around you were private first class.
While others needed to be rescued, somebody had
to keep up the fight and you kept fighting during
this. You ultimately receive the Distinguished
Service Cross for your actions. That was awarded
in 1971 and now we come to 2025 and that DSC
medal gets upgraded to the Medal of Honor, which
is the highest award granted for valor in combat.
I want to talk a little bit about the journey
from having the DSC to the Medal of Honor, but
I want to point out to everybody, I hope you
don't mind this, I offer this as a compliment,
you're a regular guy. You're not a superhero.
No. You know, you were an Eagle Scout, which
tells us a lot about your character right there
in the early years that you went through and
got your Eagle Scout. And you're now retired
from York Mahoning Mechanical. You're an HVAC
worker as your career. I mean, I think we sometimes
think about the men who are so courageous in
these situations. Well, they must be superheroes.
Did you ever think you were a superhero? Never,
never. No, I was just that Catholic boy that
was raised up proper by mom and dad. And I was
fighting to save the rest of the people behind
me, not knowing seven were already killed and
another seven had arms and legs blown off that
I found out later. And no, I just did what I
was trained. Like I tell people back here, those
that slept in class during training, were the
ones that did not come home. Because when the
stuff gets real out in the jungle, in a zone,
knowing you're the only people out there, you
gotta know what to do and always be prepared
to do. This was one of these battles, little
battles, you know, in the big picture of the
war thing, but not little to you. And there was
another Medal of Honor recipient that day in
that battle. Ken Case, I believe his name is,
he received the Medal of Honor. He was a medic
who worked through all of that chaos on that
day. But I wanna go back to this idea of like,
you know, highest praise I can give you is you're
a regular guy, which means a lot to me. And part
of that is, You really struggled when you came
back, as so many guys from Iraq and Afghanistan
are finding after Afghanistan's 20 -year war.
It's hard to come back and integrate into society
and leave all that horror that you've seen behind.
And you had your challenges, didn't you? Yes,
I did. I had a lot of challenges. I got medevac
to Japan for a week. And then from there, they
sent me back home to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
for five months. And when I got out of the hospital,
they sent me right back to active duty. I had
no time to decompress, no time. Nobody would
talk about nothing, which nowadays it's all changed
with their procedures and so forth, which is
better for them. And I would tell the people,
the ones that died on the battlefield were the
lucky ones. They didn't have the nightmares.
They didn't have getting up, checking all the
doors at night a couple times. You're still walking
perimeter. You're still doing a lot of things
that you did because nobody, nobody deprogrammed
you. if that makes any sense to the listeners.
Yep, absolutely. And I think, again, this is
something a lot of guys are gonna be able to
relate to is that, hey, even somebody who did
something as heroic as to have been entitled
to be a recipient of the Medal of Honor can come
home with post -traumatic stress that back then
nobody talked about. And you just had to suffer
your way and struggle your way through it with
your family, ultimately with your job and everything.
Much better today, but not good enough from the
VA standpoint. And it took you a while, as I'm
reading your story, you found comfort, you found
a home with the local Disabled American Veterans
DAV, I think. Am I right in reading that? Yes,
correct. Yeah. Chapter 11 in Ohio. We got a good
chapter. I get between 35 and 40 members to a
meeting, and we have a meeting and discuss things
and, you know, vote on things. And the membership
is very active. We started up a rifle team to
give full honors to veterans that couldn't get
a rifle team together, you know, because they're
busy or whatever. The guys, the members and my
officers, they're very attentive to do what I
ask to do. It keeps me busy and it keeps my mind
going because I don't want the younger veterans
coming up, going through what I had to go through.
It took them almost 50 years to put me on nightmare
medicine. So that's that's another story. Yeah,
I mean again It's easy to look at a guy like
you with that metal and blue ribbon around your
neck and say well He came out fine. Everything
was just hunky -dory He didn't have any problems
and again Part of the reason we're talking to
Medal of Honor recipients veteran radio listeners
is for you to understand These are regular guys
with regular problems when they come back that
they have to work their way through Yeah, they
got this high award, ultimately. But whether
it's working with the civilian population that
doesn't understand, or the VA population which
doesn't seem to understand, it's a lot of work,
and that's something you had to work your way
through. What helped the most, do you think?
Well, my classmates all went to college, so they
were getting tear gas in the 70s down at Ohio
State. I was getting shot at halfway around the
world, and when I came back home, nobody wanted
to hear my stories. You know, it's like I dug
a foxhole in my mind, and every day I would put
another sandbag on top until I couldn't climb
out of my foxhole anymore, and that's when I
reached out for help. And where did that help
come from Ken? It came from the VA outsourced
me to a counselor and it took him six months
once a week to make me cry because that emotion
was not in my system so I didn't cry for 15 some
years and when I started crying I couldn't stop
so he had to cancel his next two appointments
and shortly after that I took my family and my
two boys who were like five and seven and we
took a bus trip to the wall and I told my foxhole
buddies I can't carry them on my back no more
and I said goodbye to them but I'll always remember
them. And I have a book in my truck I carry all
the time with the virtual wall with their pictures
and the date they deceased. And I'll always remember
them. And that's one of the reasons I'll wear
the medal with pride is to honor them that didn't
come home and the ones that really got hurt and
lost limbs. And you know, that probably was very
cathartic to go to the wall and and sort of release
that burden. Because I saw where you said in
a recent DAV magazine article, quote, the government
took my smile away, close quote. And that really
hit me. I mean, that was something that you really
struggled with, wasn't it? Oh yeah, I never smiled.
My whole family and aunts and uncles thought
I was mad at the whole world. until I actually
sat down and talked to me face to face, but no,
it was nothing to smile about when I came home.
You know, it just was hard to adjust and it was
just very, very hard. One of the things that
I'm always interested in because it's such a
small, unique club, the recipients of the Medal
of Honor. I was number 61. Living, living, living
right now. See, that's a small club. There's
both a burden and an obligation. when you get
this recognition. Now you've only been wearing
it for five months or something now, but talk
to us a little bit about how you feel as it relates
to both that responsibility and obligation to
be a Medal of Honor recipient. Like I told the
Pentagon, I was on a conference call with many
people. I said, it's not me to wear that. I feel
like I'm bragging and showing off. They jumped
deep into my personality and told me, no, it's
like you are American royalty. Wear it with pride
and honor. Shut up and smile. I said, okay. Another
order. You thought at what, 75, they'd stop issuing
you orders or still giving you orders? They told
me never to disrespect it, never wear it with
a t -shirt, and I wear it with pride to honor
the ones, the seven that got killed that night,
the one that committed suicide in the 90s, and
the 20 others, some people that died after me.
One of the opportunities that a recipient has
is to talk to a lot of groups and we certainly
appreciate Ken David from Trumbull County, Ohio
talking to Veterans Radio today. But I know you
recently had a chance to talk to some school
kids and that may be the greatest use of your
time educating the youth about what honor and
valor and courage and duty means. Talk to us
a little bit about those encounters with the
school kids and maybe the questions they ask.
I hope they're at least as insightful as the
ones I'm asking, but I don't know. I could probably
be beat out by a fifth grader. Tell us about
your student discussions. My last one was eighth
graders. I'm sorry, fifth, sixth, fifth, sixth,
seventh and eighth graders. at St. Rose School
in Girard, and they were very attentive. They
asked me very adult questions like, what was
the president like when you met him? What was
the White House like? Very down to earth, and
I answered them the best I could. I went to Fort
Wayne, Indiana, and I talked to my seven -year
-old grandson, first grade class. There again,
they were very attentive. and I was just up here
this past weekend for my granddaughter's wedding
and my son gave me a big folder with pictures
and thank you from all the children in the class.
So I'll put that in my scrapbook. I talked last
fall before Veterans Day to the Austin Town Fitch
Choir and they invited me back after I received
the medal to explain all the news stories I've
had. And it's been a whirlwind of meeting people
and I never saw so many four -star generals.
But talking to the kids and their eyes are open
and they're a very, very smart generation coming
up with the young ones. Well, and I know some
of the advice you've been recorded as telling
them is to say, hey, no is not in your vocabulary
and that they should do the best they can in
life and never give up on anything they choose
to do to be strong and faithful to their brothers
and sisters. Those are powerful messages. Are
they paying attention when you tell them? Yes.
Yes, and then last Saturday, I talked to the
base commander at Camp Garfield up in here in
Havana, where they do National Guard training.
And I spoke to the base commander and roughly
30 people on his staff. They didn't want no speech
from me. They just they asked me questions for
an hour. And the things I would say, the colonel,
which is base commander would say, See, I'm telling
you guys the same thing that he's repeating.
They want to know better ways of training and
things to do and so forth. Oh yeah, I've been
busy, yes. I want to close out here. We got a
few more minutes. I want to talk though because
what most folks don't understand is that A Medal
of Honor recipient such as yourself does not
self promote seeking the Medal of Honor. It is
a very complicated, rigorous process that goes
through, in this instance, it would go up through
the Army ultimately getting to the President's
desk. And you have to have somebody who's determined
To get the package put together right and forward
it and follow up on it and use some political
Connections so that it gets reviewed properly
and I want you to talk about two of those guys
I kind of refer to them as Medal of Honor Sherpas.
They're the guys who have to carry the package
That heavy package up the hill Sam Lanza and
Herm Brewer Talk to us about these two buddies
of yours Sam lands was our adjutant from the
beginning of time up here for our chapter. And
he started the ball rolling. And then he told
Herm Brewer, you know, so Herm got ahold of the
packet, went through my file and says, wait a
minute, this is better than the Distinguished
Service Cross. So he started working on it. And
he got the packet together and submitted it to
the Pentagon. It took 15 years to go through
the Pentagon. With his determination, he never
gave up. He just kept fighting. My congressman
said, Herm, you got to do the paperwork. He got
Herm in a lot of the archives in DC that ordinary
people can't get into. And the paperwork was
all there. and all the committees and subcommittees
within the Pentagon approved everything. And
the Secretary of Defense had it for, I believe,
two days, walked it over to the White House and
said, this has to be done. And before President
Joe retired from his term of presidency, I got
it on January 3rd. It's also one of those things
that has to be a chilling phone call when you
get a phone call and says, please hold for the
president of the United States. Tell people how
you got notified that this ultimately got worked
through and you were going to get the upgrade
to the Medal of Honor. Well, Paula from the Pentagon
kept calling me. Yeah, it's going to happen.
And we're trying to set a date. It was supposed
to have been in September, October, November,
December. And finally, she called and said, are
you going to be home tonight? I says, why? Somebody
from the DOD is going to call you between noon
and 4. I said, OK. Then she called me at 3 .30
and said, are you going to be home between 4
to 6? I says, OK. Who's calling? Somebody from
the DOD. I said, OK. So at 4 .30 on Halloween
night, I get a phone call. This is so -and -so
the switchboard of the White House. Would you
accept a call from President Joe Biden? And I
had a pad, pencil, a tape recorder. I wanted
to record it. And President Joe got on the phone
and says, is this Mr. Ken David? I said, yes,
it is. And I was like a deer in headlights. All
that preparation went out the window. I didn't
even think about pushing the button. My main
concern was talking politely on the phone to
the President of the United States who called
me on my cell phone. And we chit -chatted for
10 minutes, and he said, somebody from my staff
will call you. And 30 minutes later, I had a
phone call. And 30 minutes after that, I had
a different phone call. And then they had us
set to date. And I was supposed to have been
in Washington, DC for five days. We spent New
Year's Eve and New Year's Day in Washington and
then it snowed and we spent instead of five,
nine days in DC. So New Year's Eve, my escort
who came to my house to pick me up, take me to
the Cleveland airport, take me to DC and he had
orders not to lose sight of me in public. Every
time I snuck away to the bathroom, he would go
nuts looking for me. And New Year's Eve, he says,
what do you want to do? I said, well, it's 9
o 'clock at night. What can we do in Washington?
He says, you want to go to the Tomb of the Unknown?
So we got two cars and went to the Tomb of the
Unknown. We hopped up to the gate, which was
all the attendants closed. The guard opened the
gate, and we had an escort to the tomb. We were
outside and then they took us into the barracks
where the the squad for the unknown for that
that day was working and had a tour and went
back out they went back in and Then New Year's
Day went over to Fort Myers and we shot Flint
Loaded muskets from the Civil War. Oh pretty
cool so They kept us busy. They kept us busy
and they honored us. I'm not used to all that
fancy stuff, open doors and this and that. But
I have to learn to accept it because I'm not
ordinary Ken no more. I'm somebody with a little
prestige that people honor and I have to dress
and act the part. if that makes any sense. It
does, and as you said earlier, you're not wearing
this for yourself. No. You're wearing it for
the guys who were in the battle with you, the
guys in Vietnam who didn't come home. You're
doing it as an ambassador to tell others the
story so the history doesn't get lost, the sacrifices
don't get lost. That's a pretty heavy weight,
Ken, to wear, isn't it? Yes, yes it is. I've
been corrected on my verbiage at the Pentagon
in different interviews. I can't say that because
it's racial and I can't say that because it's
discrimination. So I have to learn how to speak
like a speaker. Well, you've never been the public
image or public persona that you now have because
of the medal. And as I said, most guys we get
to talk to, they've been wearing it for years.
We're very fortunate and very happy to talk to
Ken, even though it's just five months into this.
And we'll probably have that catch up later on.
But I want to thank you for the time that you've
given to Veterans Radio today, so that we all
can get a kind of look inside Ken David, his...
time in Vietnam, his time afterwards, and sort
of the whole process of having the DSC upgraded
to the Medal of Honor. Ken, thanks for the time
today. Well, thank you very much, sir. I hope
people out there listening can learn and never
give up. If you think you got it bad, call me.
I'll tell you how bad it really was. You just
got to keep fighting. The day you sit in that
chair and give up, You're done. You're done.
We want to give you a little advance notice.
We're going to have a Veterans Radio event on
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everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today.
I am Jim Fossone. It's been a pleasure to be
your host. I'm a Veterans Disability Lawyer at
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