Vietnam Veteran MOH Sammy Davis Attending Inaugurations Since 1969

Meet the Army Veteran Who’s Never Missed an Inauguration Day Since Nixon
NBC News
by ERIK ORTIZ
January 18, 2017

It doesn't matter whether he voted for that person or not, Davis said, he goes to each ceremony out of a "sense of duty — an obligation I feel in my soul."

"I didn't die for my country," he said, "but I'm living for it."

On each Inauguration Day, decorated Vietnam veteran Sammy Lee Davis is furnished with a front-row seat to history.

Davis, a Medal of Honor recipient, has been an eyewitness to every American president taking the oath of office since Richard Nixon's first swearing-in on a cold January afternoon in 1969. Davis is returning to Washington this week and says he is eager to watch Donald Trump become the next president of the United States — marking his 14th ceremony he will get to experience first-hand.

"How unique it is to have that privilege," said Davis, 70, who calls everyone "sir" or "ma'am" and lives outside a tiny Indiana community called Freedom, where he keeps framed programs from each inauguration he's attended.

While a particular president might inspire a trek to the nation's capital for such a revered event — President Barack Obama's first inauguration in 2009 beckoned an estimated 1.8 million spectators — the desire to go is different for Davis.

read more here

MOH Sammy Davis Returns From Vietnam

Veteran whose actions were adapted for ‘Forrest Gump’ returns to Vietnam
WTTV CBS News
By Russ McQuaid
JULY 4, 2016 

"I stood on the exact same piece of dirt that I earned this medal on.  I been waiting to go back for forty years." Sammy L. Davis

OWEN COUNTY, Ind.-- Truth be told, Sammy L. Davis doesn’t remember the last time he left Fire Support Base Cudgel west of Cai Lay in what was then called South Vietnam 48 years ago. Davis was choppered off the battlefield, severely wounded, after a night of war that saved the lives of three fellow Americans, held off an enemy onslaught and resulted in Davis being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

This Independence Day, the night of November 18, 1967, is once again fresh in Davis’ memory as the Mooresville native has just returned from his first visit back to the riverbank where Hoosier-bred heroics were displayed and lives were changed nearly a half century ago.

“I stood on the exact same piece of dirt that I earned this medal on,” said Davis as he held the honor that hung from a sky blue ribbon around his neck during a recent memorial service. “I been wanting to go back for forty years.

Davis was promoted to sergeant for what he did at Fire Support Base Cudgel. He also received the Medal of Honor, a Silver Star and two Purple Hearts.
read more here

Return to Vietnam Healing Vietnam Veterans Souls

A healing journey
Salina Journal
By Tim Unruh
July 3, 2016

“For 48 years at night in my dreams, I see the eyes of my enemy,” said Sammy Davis, who received a Medal of Honor for his heroism in Vietnam. “Now I still see eyes, but they’re the eyes of the gentlemen I broke bread with. They’re not mean eyes, but they’re friendly eyes, and they’re helping to sooth my soul.”

Emotions peaked leading up to the day two old soldiers returned to the scene of a horrific battle, this time with their wives.

But a calm settled over Salinans Jim and Rita Deister and Sammy and Dixie Davis, of Freedom, Ind., once they found the spot at Fire Base Cudgel in the Mekong Delta, South Vietnam, where Sammy had pulled a near-dead Jim to safety. Healing occurred where their blood had spilled nearly 49 years ago.

“I looked out to the east, over the rice paddies, and I could almost visualize the North Vietnamese army and Viet Cong charging across them,” Jim Deister recalled. Because he is severely hearing impaired from his injuries, the interview was conducted by email. “That night in November (1967), they looked like an ant pile that had been disturbed. It almost sent shivers up my back.”

The U.S. Army veterans met face to face with some of their former North Vietnamese enemy and eventually bonded.

Old wounds did open, Sammy Davis said, “but I think they’ll heal instead of just scab over.” As a busy speaker who is on the road more than 200 days a year, who also counsels young war veterans, the experience with former foes was priceless.
read more here

If you want to know about what Sammy went through, I interviewed him back in 2012.

At the Orlando Nam Knights fundraiser for Homes For Our Troops, Vietnam Veteran and Medal of Honor hero Sammy Davis talked to me about what it was like coming home after all he'd been through. It is a story few have heard before. As Sammy put it, it is one of the reasons no other veteran will ever come home treated like that again.

Sammy and Dixie also had a message for families living with PTSD.

Vietnam Medal of Honor Sammy Davis has a message to all the troops coming home. Talk about it! Don't try to forget it but you can make peace with it. Dixie Davis has a message for the spouses too. Help them to talk about it with you or with someone else.

Dixie Davis Endless Love and Second Chances

Sometimes I think this "job" is just way too good to be true because of some of the people I've met over the years. Sammy and Dixie Davis are two of them. Well, Sammy has been going around the country for years as a recipient of the Medal of Honor and his wife Dixie has been right by his side.

I've had the pleasure of spending time with them on more than one occasion. A few years ago they sat down with me for an interview. (Video below)

Dixie wrote a book and I think it is fabulous she did. I can't wait to read it.

Endless Love and Second Chances: The wife of Medal of Honor recipient Sammy Davis shares their love story through grief, faith, and joyful new beginnings 
Paperback – February 8, 2016
by Dixie Davis (Author), Sherry Maves (Author), Gary Sinise (Foreword)

Published on May 8, 2012

Through unspeakable grief, they found an unbreakable connection—through their love, the joy of second chances. For Dixie and Sammy Davis, the road to each other’s arms was paved with tragedy. But through their marriage, they each found a new beginning filled with blessings, joy, and hope—a testament to the power of love after loss.

In Endless Love and Second Chances, Dixie Davis, with Sherry Maves, describes the joys and heartbreak of Dixie’s marriage with musician Tim “Doc Holiday” Taylor, tragically cut short by terminal cancer. Years later, Dixie makes an unexpected connection with mutual acquaintance Sammy Davis—one of seventy-seven living Medal of Honor recipients who has dedicated his life to spreading the values of “duty, honor, and country.”

An inspirational love story of hope, faith, and redemption, this heartfelt memoir follows Dixie and Sammy as they both recover from the profound grief of losing their spouses to find the love and healing in each other that they needed to move on. As the couple continues to travel throughout the country in the name of veterans’ awareness, this book pays a touching tribute to the difference they have made to each other—and to veterans everywhere. go here to order this






Vietnam Medal of Honor Sammy Davis has a message to all the troops coming home. Talk about it! Don't try to forget it but you can make peace with it. Dixie Davis has a message for the spouses too. Help them to talk about it with you or with someone else.

MOH Sammy Davis Gets Star Treatment at Disneyland

Disneyland Honors 'Real' Forrest Gump, MoH Recipient Sammy Lee Davis
Orange County Register
by Keith Sharon
Nov 06, 2015

He rescued three fellow soldiers and earned the Medal of Honor for his heroic effort in Vietnam.

He played football in high school, worked on a fishing boat and once gave a speech on the mall in Washington, D.C., about the importance of bringing home prisoners of war. He'll call you "sir" or "ma'am" and tell you about Freedom, Indiana, where the only traffic signal is a flashing yellow light. He doesn't live in Freedom (Population: 400), but about five miles outside town.

"It's way too congested," he said.

His name is not Forrest Gump, although he is truly Gumpian. Footage of him receiving his Medal of Honor from President Lyndon Johnson was used in the 1994 movie that won Best Picture and Best Actor for Tom Hanks. If you search on the Internet for the "real Forrest Gump," you will see his name.

"My name is Sammy Lee Davis," he said. "Not Samuel or Sam. It says Sammy on my birth certificate. They didn't use my name, but that movie is based on me."

Davis was honored Thursday during Disneyland's daily flag retreat when the sun went down. The Disneyland band played. The Dapper Dans sang. And Davis was joined by other veterans, who stood and saluted as the flags were folded.

"Pride is the utmost emotion I'm feeling right now," Davis said at the conclusion of the ceremony. He was accompanied by his wife, Dixie, and his granddaughters Katelynn Smith and Sami Johnson.
read more here


If you don't know who Sammy Davis is, this will fill you in on just how amazing he is.

A few years ago Sammy was at a fundraiser and agreed to sit down for a while with Dixie. Listen to what happened when Sammy came home as the MOH Citation was read.

Then keep all that in mind when you hear the advice he has for PTSD.

'Real Forrest Gump' Sammy Davis brings his song to Fort Wayne

'Real Forrest Gump' brings his song, Vietnam tale here
The Journal Gazette
Jeff Wiehe
December 10, 2014

He carries the harmonica whenever he’s in uniform.

It’s been nearly 50 years since he first learned to play it, teaching himself the notes to “Shenandoah” solely to please a sergeant who would make the rounds of his artillery unit in Vietnam.

“It’s getting better,” the sergeant would tell him, noting that he needed to hold that note longer or another note shorter.

Sammy L. Davis brought out his harmonica Tuesday for the people gathered in an auditorium at Indiana Tech, and he told them this:

“I hope this finds a place in your heart and renews your soul.”

Those people, they were there to hear his story.

It’s a story about a 42-man artillery unit just west of Cai Lay, Vietnam, trying to hold off 1,500 swarming members of the North Vietnamese Army early one November morning in 1967.

It’s about how one of those young men manned a lone howitzer and fended off hundreds of enemies, and how, despite suffering horrendous injuries, he used an air mattress to cross a deep river to rescue three of his comrades.

If this sounds like a movie, well, there’s a reason people call Davis, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and a man who put a harmonica to his mouth to play “Shenandoah” before the rapt audience, the “real Forrest Gump.”

‘“Forrest Gump” based on me’
read more here

Sammy was at the Homes from Our Troops Fundraiser a couple of years ago and we had some time to sit down for a chat with his wife Dixie. In the first video, Sammy talks about playing Shenandoah.

May 15, 2012
During the Orlando Nam Knights Homes For Our Troops fundraiser, MOH Sammy Davis tells the story of how he became known for playing Shenandoah. This fundraiser will be called the Dannis Wolf Bish Memorial fundraiser from now on. Dannis was killed right after the bike week party and Homes For Our Troops was his passion.

May 7, 2012
At the Orlando Nam Knights fundraiser for Homes For Our Troops, Vietnam Veteran and Medal of Honor hero Sammy Davis talked to me about what it was like coming home after all he'd been through. It is a story few have heard before. As Sammy put it, it is one of the reasons no other veteran will ever come home treated like that again.

May 8, 2012
Vietnam Medal of Honor Sammy Davis has a message to all the troops coming home. Talk about it! Don't try to forget it but you can make peace with it. Dixie Davis has a message for the spouses too. Help them to talk about it with you or with someone else.

SOLDIER IN VIETNAM REFUSED TREATMENT, KEPT FIGHTING

I get to hang around heroes all the time and one of the greatest moments in my life was spending time with Sammy Davis and his wife Dixie. The Orlando Nam Knights had a fundraiser for Homes For Our Troops two years ago and Sammy was the guest of honor. I had known him for years but never had a chance to really talk to him for very long before this event. Sammy and other Medal of Honor Heroes had done a PSA for veterans to seek help with PTSD and heal. I asked him if he wanted to add anything to what he said in that documentary. He had plenty to say. I asked Sammy what it was like coming home and that was the first time I heard the story of what happened to him at the airport. He had been beaten and had dog crap smeared on him after he had been wounded and earned the Medal of Honor. None of that stopped Sammy because he went on to serve in the National Guards later. That is how amazing he is, as if the actions he had taken in Vietnam were not impressive enough. Sammy had a message for the troops and all veterans. "We're not supposed to forget about it" and he wants them to talk about it. You can watch the videos I filmed below. I am so happy UT San Diego did this piece on Sammy. He is truly remakable

SOLDIER IN VIETNAM REFUSED TREATMENT, KEPT FIGHTING
By U-T San Diego
JAN. 12, 2014

One in a series on recipients of the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for military valor.

Sgt. SAMMY L. DAVIS

Received medal: Nov. 19, 1968

Pfc. Sammy Davis joined the Army after high school in 1966, requesting artillery because his grandfather had done the same job during World War II.

A member of Battery C, 2nd Battalion, 4th Artillery, 9th Infantry Division, Davis and his unit were west of Cai Lay in Vietnam on Nov. 18, 1967, when they came under heavy mortar attack from the Viet Cong.

About 1,500 enemy soldiers began an intense ground attack, halted by a river separating them from the Americans.

The Army unit had four guns and 42 men and had taken a helicopter to the area to set up a remote fire support base.

Davis got his hands on a machine gun, covering for his gun crew, but the enemy’s recoilless rifle round hit the squad’s howitzer and tossed Davis into a foxhole.

He was seriously wounded, but when he regained consciousness, Davis fired one last round from the damaged artillery before being overrun.

He loaded a shell into the howitzer and fired at the enemy.
read more here

May 7, 2012
At the Orlando Nam Knights fundraiser for Homes For Our Troops, Vietnam Veteran and Medal of Honor hero Sammy Davis talked to me about what it was like coming home after all he'd been through. It is a story few have heard before. As Sammy put it, it is one of the reasons no other veteran will ever come home treated like that again.

May 8, 2012
Vietnam Medal of Honor Sammy Davis has a message to all the troops coming home. Talk about it! Don't try to forget it but you can make peace with it. Dixie Davis has a message for the spouses too. Help them to talk about it with you or with someone else.

Veterans need to stop trying to forget and make peace instead

It still astonishes me that so many veterans want to forget. What good would that do? Could they even come close to forgetting a friend killed in combat? Could they forget the courage they showed faced with other people trying to kill them? What about all the tender moments that showed, the hand they reached out with, the arm they put around a hurting buddy or the tear they shed? Do those things need to be forgotten?

That is the problem with wanting to forget. There is so much they need to remember that is behind the pain they feel that they need to remember and make peach with it instead of trying to forget it.

Among the many veterans I have met over the years the one man standing out on this is Medal of Honor Vietnam Hero Sammy Davis. I interviewed him in May of 2012 when he was at a Nam Knights fundraiser for Homes For Our Troops.

He said "We're supposed to talk about it."

For returning veterans, forgetting is impossible
Kentucky Live.com
Colleen Kottke
Published: October 14, 2013
Gannett Wisconsin Media

GREEN BAY, WIS. — When Simon Bertholf, Matt Rose and Tony Phillips were sent overseas, they had no idea the events they experienced in the Middle East would haunt them a decade later.

While they appear normal to the casual observer, each has been forever changed by the death, atrocities and pain witnessed firsthand during their tours of duty, Gannett Wisconsin Media reported (http://gbpg.net/1hFXKUv).

"Just because we look fine doesn't mean there isn't anything wrong," said Navy veteran Simon Bertholf of Virginia Beach, Va. "I can be talking to someone for a short time and be absolutely sure they have no idea of what I'm struggling with. But that doesn't mean that when I'm alone or asleep or actively engaged in something that takes all of my focus, that those things don't come back."

Bertholf, 40, said symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) appeared soon after he returned from his third tour of duty in the Middle East. As a Special Forces soldier, Bertholf was often tasked with handling the fallout after roadside bombings. It would be years until he was formally diagnosed with PTSD.
read more here

Medal of Honor recipient Sammy L. Davis speaks at Fort Benning

MEDIA ADVISORY
April 15, 2011

FORT BENNING, Ga. – Medal of Honor recipient Sammy L. Davis will address an audience of Fort Benning Soldiers at 1 p.m. April 19 in Pratt Hall.
Davis was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on Nov. 18, 1967 in Vietnam while serving as a cannoneer at a remote fire support base.
Davis’ fire support base, under heavy mortar attack, was simultaneously attacked by a battalion- sized ground assault which came within 25 meters of friendly lines.
Davis was providing covering fire as his artillery gun crew attempted to fire. An enemy recoilless rifle round scored a direct hit on his crew’s artillery piece, Davis was blown into a foxhole and set the artillery piece on fire.
Despite being seriously injured and disregarding enemy gunfire aimed at his position, Davis managed to fire the artillery gun five times. He then seized an air mattress, and despite his inability to swim, made his way across a river to rescue three wounded Soldiers on the far side. While the most seriously wounded Soldier was helped across the river, Davis protected the other two, standing upright and firing into dense vegetation to prevent the Viet Cong forces from advancing, until he could pull the wounded Soldiers back across.
Refusing medical attention, he then joined another artillery crew which fired at the Viet Cong forces until they broke contact and fled.
There will be a brief media opportunity at the conclusion of Davis’ presentation.
The Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest military award, presented for gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States.
Media interested in attending this event should contact the Public Affairs Office during duty hours to coordinate a media escort to Pratt Hall.

MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT YOU'VE SEEN, BUT NOT MET UNTIL NOW

He played Shenandoah on the harmonica his Mom sent and still does every time he talks about his time in Vietnam. He plays it when he talks about what he did and what he did not get to do with a humble voice filled with more regrets about those he was not able to save than about the lives he did. Sammy won my heart a couple of years ago when we met at the Nam Knights Eternal Chapter dedication in Orlando.

When Sammy was in Vietnam, his CO was made aware his men were not writing back home and their Moms were worried. The problem was, none of the men wanted to worry their Moms so they didn't want to write. The CO told them they had to write no matter what. If they didn't want to write about what was going on, then they should write about something pleasant, anything as long as they wrote home.

Sammy wrote letters about the weather and small talk nonsense that had nothing to do with what was going on. His Mom sent him a package. He thought it was goodies to eat and share but it turned out there was a harmonica wrapped up. She sent a note that since he was so bored there, it was something to fill up the time. His CO wanted him to play Shenandoah but Sammy tried to explain he didn't know how to play it. The CO ordered him to learn. He did. He played it every time they needed to be calmed and then he played it every time their hearts were heavy. It is what he played during this interview followed by a salute to the friends gone so long ago from this earth but not from his memory.
Chaplain Kathie


sent from email,,,,,,

I consider my self very fortunate to have known Sam Davis for 25 years.

He earned the medal six weeks before I began my second tour.

We met at a veteran's reunion in Kokomo, IN in Sept. 1985 and have a good deal of outreach together, traveling across several states in the ensuing years.

A kinder, humbler gentleman you will not find. This forward comes about because of the kindness of a brother Australian Vietnam veteran, Bob "Gibbo" Gibson.
Paul Sutton

From: Bob Gibson
Subject: MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT YOU'VE SEEN, BUT NOT MET UNTIL NOW
To:
Date: Monday, August 23, 2010, 4:45 AM

Bob "Bomber" Gibson

Gold Coast AUSTRALIA.
Aussie Vietnam vet 1967-Oct 1968.
Infantry Rifleman D&E Platoon 1ATF.
VIETNAM.

Well im happy to say ive met Sammy in 1986 in chicago and we have stayed mates ever since, Sammy also come down under to help me with the national vietnam vets welcome home in sydney in 1987 he was such a big help to aussie vietnam vets during that time of Silence we all faced since our return from SVN.

Here you go mates think I told you all the story of "Forest Gump" the movie.
I will be linking up with Sammy again in Chicago next June 2011 for 25th
anniversary of Chicago welcome home Vietnam vets parade as i did way back in 86. We all went to Vietnam as boys come home as men,went to our first welcome home in Chicago as middle age men and return 25yrs later as old diggers ( Soldiers ) where has all the time gone.

Medal of Honor Recipients Speak Out on PTSD

These men were awarded the highest honor for saving lives and they are still doing it. They are still saving lives by doing this!

Medal of Honor Recipients Speak Out
By Lina Bereskova
Epoch Times Staff
To reduce rising suicide rates in the military, American Medal of Honor recipients will launch the “Medal of Honor—Speak Out!” campaign to encourage soldiers to get help for post-traumatic stress (PTS). The heroes, who survived horrific experiences, recorded video messages.

Soldiers who suffer from PTS often do not seek help. A fear of looking weak or of hurting their military career held back 65 and 50 percent respectively from asking for help, according to the campaign.

go here for more

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/35270/

http://www.medalofhonorspeakout.org/

Sammy Davis

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/35270/

Medal of Honor Recipients Speak Out About PTS
Medal of Honor: Speak Out! PSA
:30 Second PSA
PSA: Army
PSA: Navy and Marine Corps
PSA: Air Force
Harvey "Barney" Barnum
Patrick Brady
Paul W. Bucha
Jon Cavaiani

The 28 participating Medal of Honor recipients are each featured in a short video clip personally urging service members to seek help through resources and services that were not available when they returned from war. For example, Jon Cavaiani tells troops he wishes the resources were available to him when he returned from the Vietnam War, because “it would have alleviated the problems I had later. The tools and resources to help are there. Make use of them. I did, much later, and it continues to help me stay strong.”

Cavaiani, a Special Forces staff sergeant, was held by the North Vietnamese as a prisoner of war for two years. He was wounded in the back and severely burned after his small contingent of American soldiers was attacked by an overwhelming enemy force in the spring of 1971.

Medal of Honor Speak Out on PTSD

Bruce Crandall
Sammy Davis
George "Bud" Day
Drew Dix
Roger Donlon
Walter Ehlers
James Fleming
Robert Foley
Harold Fritz
Thomas Hudner
Robert Ingram
Joe Jackson
Jack Jacobs
Thomas Kelley
Walter Marm
Robert Modrzejewski
Alfred Rascon
Jim Taylor
Brian Thacker
Michael E. Thornton & Thomas R. Norris
Leo Thorsness
Jay Vargas
Gary Wetzel
Hershel "Woody" Williams

Nam Knights Orlando Memorial Dedication

Medal Of Honor Sammy Davis and Silver Star Ken Mellick, both Nam Knights photo by Chaplain Kathie

Yesterday I attended the memorial dedication ceremony of the Nam Knights Orlando Eternal Chapter. It was a very impressive ceremony. I planned to film it all so that I could share it with everyone, but things didn't work out that way. Five minutes before the ceremony was to begin, I was approached by a Nam Knight informing me that the Chaplain scheduled to do the invocation had not arrived. Five minute warning to find someone to hit record on my video camera and then pray to God for the words to use and the courage to speak! God delivered the right words to my mouth and calmed my nerves long enough to get me up there and back down without falling.

This video has the small contribution I made to the event and several speakers but I was very disappointed when I was loading the video onto my PC and discovered that most of the speech Sammy Davis, Medal of Honor Recipient, gave was not included in the video or the rest of the ceremony. Sammy told the story of his time in Vietnam and it was really moving. I hope to be able to get my hands on a copy of the entire program but for now, at least you will know what Sammy did as the account of his actions was spoken. Sammy is warm, down to earth and very humble.

Also on the video is the account of how the Nam Knights began. I've said it more than I can remember of how honored I am to know the men in the Nam Knights and I could not have been more proud to be among them.

I promise the if I do find a copy of the entire event, I will post it up.

Nam Knights Orlando Memorial Dedication - watch more videos