Americans should know the story of Tom Bennett was well as they know that of Desmond. Bennett, a conscientious objector and an Army medic, earned the Medal of Honor posthumously in Vietnam when he repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to tend to American wounded.

Bennett joined the Army in 1968, enlisting as a conscientious objector who was willing to serve, similar to Desmond Doss, the World War II veteran famous from the Hacksaw Ridge film. By January 1969, Bennett was a medic with the 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam, when his unit conducted combat patrols in the central highlands.

On February 9, Bennett risked enemy fire to pull five wounded Americans to safety, and his platoon sergeant nominated him for the Silver Star. Over the next two nights, he moved from position to position, tending the wounded and retrieving the bodies of several fallen soldiers. Then, on February 11, he braved intense North Vietnamese fire to tend to one wounded man, and then was cut down trying to reach a second American.

On April 7, 1970. President Nixon presented the Medal of Honor to Bennett’s mother and step-father. Please honor and remember Tom Bennett!