Hero in VIetnam at 20, Honored 49 years later in Ohio

Vietnam veteran Bob Towles presented with Distinguished Service Cross for heroism
The Plain Dealer
By Brian Albrecht
April 25, 2014

Sen. Sherrod Brown joins Lt. Col. William Meade of the Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Vietnam veteran Robert Towles, of Windham, Ohio.
(Office of Sherrod Brown)

CLEVELAND, Ohio – On November 17, 1965, Bob Towles was a 20 year old from Niles, Ohio, who had only been in Vietnam for two months when his Army infantry unit was suddenly attacked without warning.

As his fellow soldiers from the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Cavalry (1st Cavalry Division-Air Mobile) fell around him, Towles was hit in the right side by shrapnel from a mortar round or rocket-propelled grenade. Yet he charged ahead under heavy enemy fire, single-handedly attacking and taking out an enemy machine gun position, allowing his wounded comrades to escape.

That heroism was honored Thursday with presentation of the Distinguished Service Cross to Towles, now 69, of Windham, at Windham High School. The award is the Army's second highest military honor.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown attended the ceremony and had worked with U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan to secure the medal for Towles, who had previously received a Bronze Star for his actions. It was later determined that his actions made him eligible for the Distinguished Service Cross.

“I feel very honored and humbled,” Towles said after the presentation.

He remembered that the action that led to that award was fast and furious, as 155 soldiers in the battalion were killed and 128 wounded. “Yeah, it didn’t take very long, but it seems like long time when it’s happening,” he said.
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