INDUCTION YEAR: 2024
Col. Paris Davis, one of the first African American officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat, captured worldwide recognition when he received the Medal of Honor from President Joe Biden in a White House ceremony in March of 2023.
It was an honor nearly 60 years in the making, as the highly decorated U.S. Army veteran received the nation’s highest award for bravery on the battlefield more than half a century after his heroics during the Vietnam War.
On June 18, 1965, a wounded and bloodied Davis, then a Special Forces captain, twice refused orders to quit the battlefield of Bong Son until he had saved multiple wounded teammates in a brutal 19-hour hand to hand battle with a Viet Cong battalion.
According to the Army Times, Davis repeatedly sprinted into an open rice paddy to rescue each member of his team using his pinkie finger to fire his rifle after an enemy grenade shattered his hand. Due to his heroics, Davis’s entire team survived the battle.
At the end of the battle, Davis was recommended for the Medal of Honor by one of the men he had rescued that day. That 1965 nomination package was lost by the Army, as was a subsequent nomination made in 1969.
Davis was eventually awarded a Silver Star, the third-highest military combat medal, but members of his team, many who have suggested that race was a factor in the handling of his nomination, have persisted in their push to have Davis recognized for his bravery with the Medal of Honor.
“There were not many African Americans in Special Forces,” said Davis in an interview for a Special Operations Command profile. “I had a lot of people say to me ‘Are you sure you want to go into Special Forces? I don’t see a lot of people who look like you there.’ But I was inspired by President Kennedy, who created the Special Forces, and wanted to be a part of it. I knew what I was getting into.”
Davis was first deployed to Vietnam in 1962. His commands included the 1st Special Forces Command, 5th Special Forces Group and 10th Special Forces Group.
Now 85 years old, Davis retired as a colonel in 1985. Still, the Medal of Honor nomination languished until January of 2021, when then Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller ordered an expedited review of the lost nomination.
The announcement came in November of 2022 that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, had approved the recommendation followed by approval by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Davis was born in 1939, in Cleveland, Ohio. As a young man, he became interested in the military and sports, and he pursued both at Southern University, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he studied political science on an ROTC scholarship.
Davis was commissioned as an Army reserve armor officer in 1959, graduated from Airborne and Ranger schools in 1960, and was selected for the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, serving first in Korea and then Vietnam.
Davis first deployed to Vietnam in 1962 and again in 1965, where he was promoted to captain as a detachment commander with the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces making him one of the first African American Special Forces officers as the Civil Rights movement gained momentum at home. He served a third tour in Vietnam in 1969.
In addition to the Silver Star, the Bronze Star Medal with “V” device, a Purple Heart with one Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Air Medal with “V” device, Davis was also awarded the Soldier’s Medal for heroism, one of only four service members in U.S. military history to receive both the Soldier’s Medal and the Medal of Honor. In 2019 Davis was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame.
Davis attended Command and General Staff College in 1971 and the Naval War College in 1980. He served with the Army staff, the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Headquarters, U.S. Army European Command. He holds a master’s degree in public affairs from Southern Illinois University, and a Ph.D. in public administration from Northern Virginia University.
Following his military career, Davis founded and published the Metro Herald newspaper in Alexandria for 30 years. Headquartered on North Washington Street in Old Town, the weekly Metro Herald focused on issues impacting the African American community in the greater DMV region. Its last issue was published in February of 2018. At the time, it had a circulation of more than 42,000.
In December of 2023, Davis was honored along with Navy Capt. Eugene “Red” McDaniel, a 2019 Living Legend of Alexandria, when Gov. Glenn Youngkin renamed the Virginia Veterans Care Center the Davis and McDaniel Veterans Care Center in Roanoke.
“Hero is a word that is oftentimes overused but today is a word that is wholly inadequate to describe the men that this facility going forward will be named,” Youngkin said of the longtime Alexandria residents. “Today we honor two incredible souls who across war and conflict defined victory with their unwavering courage.”
Youngkin read the Medal of Honor citation for Davis, saying “Heroes like Col. Paris D. Davis reminds us that it takes just one to stand, one to lead through service, one whose deeds inspire many.”
Said Davis, “The name of the veterans’ center is not about me. It is about the commitment we have shared to support our veterans. This center is a testament to the value we hold dear, the love that we have for America and those who serve to protect our country and who have dedicated their lives to the principle of duty and honor.”
Added Youngkin, “Colonel Davis, thank you for loving our country. Thank you for demonstrating what selfless service means. And thank you for reminding all of us that freedom is not free.”
By: Jeanne Theismann
Photo Credit: Steven Halperson-Tisara Photo