Dwight Hal Johnson was a distinguished soldier of the United States Army, who fought valiantly during the Vietnam War. His bravery and caring for his fellow soldiers while in Vietnam earned him the Medal of Honor. Like many other recipients of the Medal of Honor, the ending of Dwight Johnson's story is not a happy one. Dwight Johnson, born in Detroit, Michigan on May 7, 1947. He was a tank driver. In this capacity, he found himself stuck in a conflict with a North Vietnamese force on January 15, 1968. He was 20-years-old at the time.
That day, in Vietnam, Dwights platoon of four M-48 tanks were racing down a road towards Dakto, which was in heavy contact with a battalion size North Vietnamese force. As soon as Dwight arrived, communist rockets knocked out two of the tanks and wave foot soldiers sprang out of the nearby woods to attack the other two tanks . He was a sitting idle, Dwight was not the sort of man to sit there. He took position on the mounted .48 caliber gun. He immediately went straight for, and engaged, the enemy. He managed not to be shot while he used up his ammo killing several enemies.
Dwight Johnson's old tank was on fire about 60 feet away. He couldn't just sit there and watch and so he decided to run through the heay crossfire to save his fellow soldiers. Dwight, pulled out the first soldier he came across in the tank. He then carried him to a personnel carrier. Johnson then returned to his platoon sergeant and helped him fire the tank's main gun until it jammed. Never one to stop when the odds were against him, Dwight Johnson returned to his tank one last time. There, he operated the tank's .50 caliber machine gun until the conflict was over. He was exposed the entire time.
The entire situation that led to Dwight Johnson receiving the Medal of Honor lasted roughly 30 minutes. In that time, Dwight killed anywhere between 5 and 20 enemy soldiers. Unfortunately, this
