Four Decades Later, Vietnam War Hero Spec. Leslie Sabo Receives Medal of Honor
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Forty-two years after his selfless act of heroism during the Vietnam war saved the lives of his fellow soldiers, Army Specialist Leslie H. Sabo, Jr. posthumously received the Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony on Wednesday.
President Obama presented the nation's highest decoration for valor to Sabo's widow, Rose Mary Brown, and brother, George Sabo.
The then 22-year-old Sabo died on May 10, 1970 as his patrol was ambushed near a remote border area of Cambodia. The attack by North Vietnamese troops killed seven of Sabo's fellow soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division and would come to be known as the "Mother's Day ambush."
A White House statement announcing Sabo's receipt of the Medal of Honor in April described how Sabo gave his life that day to silence the enemy fire.
According to the release, Sabo charged enemy positions and killed several North Vietnamese fighters while drawing fire away from his unit.
Later, Sabo used his body to shield a wounded soldier from the blast of a tossed grenade. Wounded by automatic weapons fire, he crawled towards an enemy bunker and dropped a grenade that "silenced the enemy fire, but also ended Specialist Sabo's life."
The statement said Sabo's "indomitable courage and complete disregard for his own safety saved the lives of many of his platoon members."
Sabo's commanders nominated him for the Medal of Honor, but the request may not have been properly processed and was subsequently lost.
A campaign to correct the oversight began in 1999 when Tony Mabb, a researcher for the 101st Airborne Division Association's magazine, came across a thick file of Sabo's paperwork in the National Archives.
Mabb contacted members of Congress who worked to extend the statute of limitations for nominations for the Medal of Honor so Sabo's case could be reviewed. Nominations for the Medal have to be made within three years after the incident.
After legislation was passed in 2008 that eliminated that hurdle, the Army's recommendation that Sabo should receive the Medal of Honor was forwarded to the White House in 2010. The White House announced in April that President Obama would posthumously award the medal to Sabo's family.
Sabo immigrated with his family from Austria as a toddler. He met Rose Mary at a high school football game and after dating for two years they were married in 1969 after he received his draft notice.
The 30 days of Army leave he received before being deployed overseas were the only time he and his wife would spend together as a married couple before he was killed in action the following May.
In April, Brown told the Army News Service: "I couldn't be more proud of him."
"The Leslie I know would give his life to anybody," she said. "He would. He would give you the shirt off his back. That's the kind of man he was."
This guy was a hero. RIP Leslie Sabo. By the way I want to see a Vietnam War Mini TV Series ala Band of Brothers, and the Pacific.
Re: Four Decades Later, Vietnam War Hero Spec. Leslie Sabo Receives Medal of Honor
This war has fascinated me from a very young age, and even though I have no connection with it, it angers me to even talk about it. Such a tragic, unnecessary waste of life. There is a very special place in hell reserved for Kennedy and Johnson. ESPECIALLY Johnson. If only the people over there in that shithole had the option to just gracefully step down and be done with it when the going got tough.
Re: Four Decades Later, Vietnam War Hero Spec. Leslie Sabo Receives Medal of Honor
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Originally Posted by johndeeregreen
This war has fascinated me from a very young age, and even though I have no connection with it, it angers me to even talk about it. Such a tragic, unnecessary waste of life. There is a very special place in hell reserved for Kennedy and Johnson. ESPECIALLY Johnson. If only the people over there in that shithole had the option to just gracefully step down and be done with it when the going got tough.
**** them both, among many, many others.
I guess all it really had to do with was the fear of communism. Communism destroys the rich and the ability to become rich. The general public feared communism because they were told to, but also because the available examples of it in the real world were pretty awful places to live.
Re: Four Decades Later, Vietnam War Hero Spec. Leslie Sabo Receives Medal of Honor
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Originally Posted by Velocirap31
I guess all it really had to do with was the fear of communism. Communism destroys the rich and the ability to become rich. The general public feared communism because they were told to, but also because the available examples of it in the real world were pretty awful places to live.
I don't disagree with what you posted, but if you think the Vietnam War began because the United States wanted to improve or fix that country, you're mistaken.
Re: Four Decades Later, Vietnam War Hero Spec. Leslie Sabo Receives Medal of Honor
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Originally Posted by johndeeregreen
I don't disagree with what you posted, but if you think the Vietnam War began because the United States wanted to improve or fix that country, you're mistaken.
No I don't think the US gave a crap about Vietnam. They just didn't want to see communism spread to non-communist nations.
Re: Four Decades Later, Vietnam War Hero Spec. Leslie Sabo Receives Medal of Honor
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Originally Posted by Velocirap31
No I don't think the US gave a crap about Vietnam. They just didn't want to see communism spread to non-communist nations.
it was never about communism vs capitalism. it was always about the united states vs the soviet union. every cold war was a proxy war for the super powers, for a binary global power structure that pitted east vs west, and for all the ideological justification that went on throughout the 50s 60s and 70s, for all the attention the supposedly great battle of ideas got, for all the political 'dissidents' thrown in prison for thought crime...
communism was just a label. essentially definition-less in the context of the times. so was capitalism considering economic policy in truman's postwar administration when all that bullshit really started to take off.
communism vs capitalism just made american and soviet styles of nationalism easier for their respective publics to swallow
Re: Four Decades Later, Vietnam War Hero Spec. Leslie Sabo Receives Medal of Honor
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Originally Posted by RidonKs
it was never about communism vs capitalism. it was always about the united states vs the soviet union. every cold war was a proxy war for the super powers, for a binary global power structure that pitted east vs west, and for all the ideological justification that went on throughout the 50s 60s and 70s, for all the attention the supposedly great battle of ideas got, for all the political 'dissidents' thrown in prison for thought crime...
communism was just a label. essentially definition-less in the context of the times. so was capitalism considering economic policy in truman's postwar administration when all that bullshit really started to take off.
communism vs capitalism just made american and soviet styles of nationalism easier for their respective publics to swallow
Four Decades Later, Vietnam War Hero Spec. Leslie Sabo Receives Medal of Honor
