MEDAL OF HONOR
Vietnam Veteran Receives Overdue Upgrade to MOH
On the night of June 18, 1968, then 1st Lt. Larry L. Taylor, a helicopter pilot with Troop D, 1st Squadron, 4th U.S. Cavalry, led a two-gunship mission in support of a four-man long-range reconnaissance patrol (LRRP) surrounded and under attack in the Binh Duong province of South Vietnam, south of Saigon. Arriving on scene, Taylor could hear the plink of enemy ground fire striking his Bell AH-1G Cobra. After blasting away at Viet Cong attackers with the ships’ miniguns and rockets for 45 minutes at danger-close range, the pilot grew alarmed when the ammunition on both gunships grew desperately low, leaving the patrol in danger of being overrun. He frantically radioed several times for a Huey extraction. When it became apparent none was coming, Taylor made a bold decision: He would use his Cobra to spirit the men out of harm’s way. After expending the last of his ammo and ordering the patrol to trigger its remaining Claymore mines, the maverick pilot swooped down, had the soldiers grab onto his Cobra’s struts and rocket pods, then airlifted them to safety.
For his actions Taylor received the Silver Star. But for years patrol members, fellow pilots and legislators pushed for an
