Vietnam Veteran Who Ordered His Marines to Fix Bayonets Receives Silver Star 

Retired Maj. Edward Wright, who served with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, was presented with the Silver Star 51 years after his heroic actions during the Vietnam War. The Lima Company platoon leader is credited with leading a 30-man reaction force against North Vietnamese fighters on Aug. 21, 1967, to save an Army convoy and other Marines after his own company commander’s team was ambushed.

“Lieutenant Wright expeditiously organized his platoon and led them on a rapid two-mile combat march to the ambush site,” the Silver Star citation states. “Recognizing contact with the enemy was imminent, he tactically deployed his force into concealed positions moments before the enemy unleashed a ferocious attack with automatic weapons, rockets and grenades.”

Despite the enemy fire, Wright and his men forged ahead. He tenaciously assaulted, the citation states, clearing enemy positions as he advanced toward hand-to-hand combat.

“As the battle came to close combat, [Wright] rallied his men and ordered them to fix bayonets and continued his aggressive assault.”

Wright, who received the medal during a ceremony in Portland, Oregon, is one of several Vietnam-era combat heroes recognized in recent years. Retired Marine Sgt. Maj. John Canley was awarded the Medal of Honor in October for his actions during the 1968 Battle of Hue City. A year ago, former Army Capt. Gary “Mike” Rose also received the nation’s highest valor award for his actions in Laos during the Vietnam War.

Of all the orders I would least like to be given or have to give to others, “Fix Bayonets” has got to be near the top of the list.

Suddenly he awoke and was running – raw
In raw-seamed hot khaki, his sweat heavy,
Stumbling across a field of clods towards a green hedge
That dazzled with rifle fire, hearing
Bullets smacking the belly out of the air –
He lugged a rifle numb as a smashed arm;
The patriotic tear that had brimmed in his eye
Sweating like molten iron from the centre of his chest, –
In bewilderment then he almost stopped –
In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations
Was he the hand pointing that second? He was running
Like a man who has jumped up in the dark and runs
Listening between his footfalls for the reason
Of his still running, and his foot hung like
Statuary in mid-stride. Then the shot-slashed furrows
Threw up a yellow hare that rolled like a flame
And crawled in a threshing circle, its mouth wide
Open silent, its eyes standing out.
He plunged past with his bayonet toward the green hedge,
King, honour, human dignity, etcetera
Dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm
To get out of that blue crackling air
His terror’s touchy dynamite.

Bayonet Charge
by Ted Hughes

Source: Vietnam Veteran Who Ordered His Marines to Fix Bayonets Receives Silver Star | Military.com

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