US Navy HM2 David Ballard: Vietnam War Medal of Honor Recipient

Welcome back everyone!

Before you hear this week’s story, I’m going to share with you a quick Medal of Honor story about US Army PFC Kaoru Moto, a WWII Medal of Honor recipient.

On July 7, 1944 in Italy, Private First Class Kauro Moto spotted a machine gun nest obstructing his platoon's advance. Alone, he moved to within ten paces of the enemy position and killed the machine gunner. The assistant gunner immediately opened fire on Pvt Moto, but he quickly crawled behind the position, surprising the soldier and forcing him to surrender. With his prisoner, Moto took a position near a house to prevent the enemy from using it. While guarding the area, he noticed another enemy machine gun team setting up. He engaged them with precise fire, driving them back. A sniper from a nearby house then shot and severely wounded him. Despite his injuries, Pvt Moto applied first aid, changed positions to avoid the sniper, and continued to advance. Later, as he crossed a road, he spotted another machine gun nest. Wounding two of the soldiers, PVT Moto crawled closer and ordered them to surrender. When they didn’t respond, he fired again, and the soldiers finally surrendered.

PFC Moto was a member of the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a unit primarily composed of first-generation Japanese Americans.  At a time when their families and loved ones were being held in internment camps, these brave men fought for the country they loved.  The 442nd is regarded as the most decorated in US military history.  Although PFC Moto survived the war, he sadly passed away before his Distinguished Service Cross was posthumously upgraded to the Medal of Honor in 2000.

If you want to view many more shorts like this, you can find them on the Duty & Valor YouTube channel.

This week’s episode is about U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class Donald Ballard. He served in Vietnam and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his split-second decision to save the lives of the men around him. This is his story.  

Donald was born on Dec. 5, 1945 in Kansas City, MO. After graduating from North Kansas City High School, he worked in a dental laboratory.  Working there gave him a desire to be a dentist, but he couldn’t afford dentistry school so he decided to enlist in the military to acquire some financial assistance, which led him to enlisting in the Navy on Dec. 27, 1965.  By this point, David had married and had two children, a son and daughter. 

He was sent to basic training at the Naval Training Center, Great Lakes in Illinois and then to the Naval Hospital Corps School, at Great Lakes as well.  In June 1966, Donald was assigned to the Naval Hospital in Memphis, TN.  He was there for only a few months before being sent to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina where he was assigned to the Second Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force.    

In December 1967, he was then assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Division just as they were shipping out to fight in Vietnam. .  

Just to clarify the role of Navy corpsmen being assigned to Marine Corps units, which I have received questions on in the past. Though the Marine Corps is one of the uniformed services of the United States, it is part of the Department of the Navy, along with the Navy itself.  They don’t have their own medical personnel, which is why Navy corpsmen are attached to combat units.  The nickname given to these corpsmen is “Doc”, and when I receive comments on my YouTube videos about Navy corpsmen, Marine Corps veterans are quick to thank them for what they do for them.  I can honestly say that there are no other service members from another branch that Marines respect more than their corpsmen, and rightfully so.

 As Hospital Corpsman Second Class Ballard had some surgical training, he was initially told that he would be assigned to a medical facility where his experience would be utilized in the operating room.  However, plans changed after the Tet offensive commenced and he was assigned as a front line corpsman instead.   He was attached to Company M, which was stationed near the DMZ at Quang Tri in South Vietnam.  

On May 16, 1968, Hospital Corpsman Ballard and the Marines of Company M moved to connect with other units of the 3rd Battalion.  While in route, two Marines suffered from heat exhaustion.  Hospital Corpsman Ballard treated the men and saw to their evacuation by helicopter.  Afterwards, as he returned to his platoon, a large North Vietnamese Army unit suddenly attacked his rifle company.  This fierce automatic weapon and mortar attack caused many casualties.

Ballard spotted a wounded Marine and raced to his side to treat him.  He then yelled to have stretcher bearers move the Marine to safety to get further treatment.  Four Marines were soon at their position and prepared to move the injured man.  Just as they were preparing to leave, an enemy soldier appeared, threw a grenade and opened fire on the Marines with his rifle.  

As the grenade was in the air heading to their position, Ballard yelled at the Marines to take cover.  The grenade landed and Ballard reacted quickly.  To protect the five Marines by his side, he jumped on the grenade and covered it, knowing full well it would surely kill him.  As he lay on top of the grenade, he was shocked to realize it didn’t detonate.  Still not out of danger from it exploding, he picked it up and threw it.  Luckily for him, and the other Marines there, the grenade exploded in the air without causing any casualties.  Seemingly unfazed by what had just happened, he returned to treating wounded Marines.

Hospital Corpsman Ballard later reflected on this and said “I don’t feel like I did anything spectacular,I was wanting to do the right thing, but in all honesty, I was scared. … I paid attention to my surroundings and to survival skills as best I could, and I just did my job.” 

To him, it was nothing, but to the Marnes there that day, it was a lot more.  

Over the following months, he was wounded three times and was eventually evacuated to Japan for treatment in July.  After two months, he returned to the hospital in Memphis and continued his work there.  

He remained on active duty until February 1970 and then joined the Naval Reserve.  For his actions on May 16, 1968, Hospital Corpsman Ballard was recommended for the Navy Cross, the second highest award a Sailor can receive.  As the recommendation made its way through the approval process, it was upgraded to a recommendation for the Medal of Honor.  It was approved and the Medal of Honor was bestowed upon Hospital Corpsman Ballard by President Nixon at a White House ceremony on May 14, 1970.

Later that year, Ballard applied and was accepted to the United States Army’s Officer Candidate School.  When General William Westmoreland, the Chief of Staff of the Army, who was also in attendance at Ballard’s Medal of Honor ceremony,  heard about his desire to become an officer, he offered Ballard a commission as an active duty officer, but Ballard declined and joined the Kansas National Guard.  He served for three more decades and retired as a Colonel in 2000.

Since retiring, he has focused on veteran causes and as the owner of two funeral homes, he assists the families of deceased veterans afford proper burial of their loved ones.  

He got divorced from his first wife, but remarried and had another four children. 

Since the Medal of Honor was first authorized during the Civil War, there have been 3,519 recipients.  Of those, only 60 are still living, with Col. Donald Ballard being one of those.    

Instead of ending the episode with positive words about him, I’m going to end it with a quote directly from him that speaks to his humility about receiving the Medal of Honor.

"I wear this medal for all veterans that have ever served in uniform. There were a lot of brave men out there, and most all of them earned a lot more decorations than they received. I can tell you that there's a lot more deserving people out there than me who should have gotten the Medal of Honor."

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To read more about this week’s hero, check out the sources used in today's episode in our show notes and at dutyandvalor.com.

Remember, we release new episodes on the Duty & Valor YouTube channel on Fridays at 5 pm. On our channel, we also release daily YouTube shorts that highlight our Nation’s heroes, many of whom haven’t been featured on the show yet.

Please join us for our next episode, where we'll be sharing the inspiring story of another American hero who served with pride and lived with humility.