On this day in 1969, a hero engages in an action that would earn him the Medal of Honor.
On this day in 1969, a hero engages in an action that would earn him the Medal of Honor. Garfield M. Langhorn had been in Vietnam for only two months when his heroic act occurred. Like so many in his generation, he’d been drafted into the Army. “I don’t know if he wanted to do what he was doing when he was kılled,” one official would later say, “but he served magnificently.” Langhorn’s friends and family describe him as a devout Christian and a good student who liked to run cross-country. “He was always caring,” his mother concluded. “He’d help the old ladies with their groceries when they’d get home from the stores. He’d go along with his sister to the movies, and he’d sit one row behind her to make sure she was OK.” When he deployed to Vietnam in November 1968, he’d just gotten engaged to his childhood sweetheart. His fiancée, Joan, was worried. She later said that something seemed off on the day he left for Vietnam. As he walked to the plane, he turned to wave at her and his family...