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Angel Mendez - NOTES FROM THE VIRTUAL WALL

THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
Washington

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the
NAVY CROSS posthumously to:

SERGEANT ANGEL MENDEZ
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

for service as set forth in the following:

CITATION:

For extraordinary heroism while serving as a Platoon Right Guide of the Third
Platoon, Company F, Second Battalion, Seventh Marines, in the Republic of Vietnam
on 16 March 1967. During Operation DE SOTO in Quang Ngai Province, Company F
was conducting a search and destroy mission when the rear elements of the
company were taken under intense 50-caliber machine gun and automatic weapons
fire from an estimated hard-core Viet Cong battalion. One half of the Second
Platoon was pinned down in an open rice paddy and all attempts to relieve the
pressure on the beleaguered Marines had proven futile. Sergeant (then Corporal)
Mendez, unhesitatingly volunteered to lead a squad into the face of the devastating
and extremely accurate machine gun fire to assist the pinned-down Marines in
returning to friendly lines with their two dead and two seriously wounded. The Viet
Cong fire increased to a fever pitch as Sergeant Mendez calmly and courageously
moved out onto a paddy dike, completely exposed to the intense fire, and
commenced firing his M-79 at the enemy positions with deadly accuracy. He fired
round after round as he stood, bravely defying the enemy, to give covering fire to
his comrades. Sixty meters across the rice paddy from Sergeant Mendez, his
Platoon Commander was seriously wounded and he fell, unable to move.
Immediately Sergeant Mendez raced through the hail of bullets to his Platoon
Commander's side. Shielding him with his body as he applied a dressing to the
wound, he picked up the Lieutenant and started to carry him to friendly lines, which
were more than seventy-five meters away. Exhibiting exceptional courage he
moved toward the lines as the Viet Cong attempted to hit this double target.
Twenty meters short of his goal, he was hit in the shoulder and two of his comrades
ran out to assist him. Even though painfully wounded, Sergeant Mendez chose to be
the rear man, refusing to relinquish his hold on his Lieutenant's legs as they carried
him toward the hedgerow. He was shielding his Lieutenant with his own body when

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