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https://www.newsweek.com/who-john-canley-medal-honor-1137031
The crackling barrage of incoming enemy gunfire pinned down three U.S. Marines that lay wounded in the mud, screaming for help and medical attention.
It was 1968 and the Tet Offensive was raging as American forces moved to retake Huế city, located in central Vietnam on the banks of the Perfume River. Ten thousand North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops seized the heart of the city, turning houses and streets into bunkered positions.
South Vietnamese and U.S. forces were unprepared for the large-scale assault that forced the Marines into the first major urban combat the United States had seen since the Korean War.
Marines nearby attempted to rescue their wounded brothers, but the barrage of bullets and rocket-propelled grenades kept them from advancing toward them—that was, until “Gunny” walked in.
“So they hear a noise and they look back and there’s Canley. He’s walking down, upright, not running, walks over the little berm, picks up the first guy, throws him over his shoulder and walks back,” John Ligato, a former Marine and FBI agent told Newsweek. “So there’s two independent eyewitnesses on this...Canley says to them, individually, ‘keep down there’s a lot of incoming.’”
Retired Marine Sergeant Major John Canley, who at the time was serving as the company gunnery sergeant for Alpha Company First Battalion, First Marine Regiment, dropped the wounded Marine on his shoulder behind a covered position, turned, and walked back to grab the second injured Marine—dropping him off only to return and retrieve the third Marine.
“He never ran and he never ducked,” said Ligato, chuckling at how calm Canley could be as rounds whizzed past him. “You know, it’s just amazing. I don’t know if he had some sort of death wish or what—Gunny says that he just gets into a zone and does what he has to do...I don’t know how the bullets didn’t hit him.”
The crackling barrage of incoming enemy gunfire pinned down three U.S. Marines that lay wounded in the mud, screaming for help and medical attention.
It was 1968 and the Tet Offensive was raging as American forces moved to retake Huế city, located in central Vietnam on the banks of the Perfume River. Ten thousand North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops seized the heart of the city, turning houses and streets into bunkered positions.
South Vietnamese and U.S. forces were unprepared for the large-scale assault that forced the Marines into the first major urban combat the United States had seen since the Korean War.
Marines nearby attempted to rescue their wounded brothers, but the barrage of bullets and rocket-propelled grenades kept them from advancing toward them—that was, until “Gunny” walked in.
“So they hear a noise and they look back and there’s Canley. He’s walking down, upright, not running, walks over the little berm, picks up the first guy, throws him over his shoulder and walks back,” John Ligato, a former Marine and FBI agent told Newsweek. “So there’s two independent eyewitnesses on this...Canley says to them, individually, ‘keep down there’s a lot of incoming.’”
Retired Marine Sergeant Major John Canley, who at the time was serving as the company gunnery sergeant for Alpha Company First Battalion, First Marine Regiment, dropped the wounded Marine on his shoulder behind a covered position, turned, and walked back to grab the second injured Marine—dropping him off only to return and retrieve the third Marine.
“He never ran and he never ducked,” said Ligato, chuckling at how calm Canley could be as rounds whizzed past him. “You know, it’s just amazing. I don’t know if he had some sort of death wish or what—Gunny says that he just gets into a zone and does what he has to do...I don’t know how the bullets didn’t hit him.”
