Robert R. Ingram

Robert R. Ingram
A smiling young man in military uniform, crouching with his forearms resting on his legs. His soft cap is pushed high up on his forehead and his dog tags hang out of his short-sleeved button shirt.A light blue neck ribbon with a gold star shaped medallion hanging from it. The ribbon is similar in shape to a bowtie with 13 white stars in the center of the ribbon.
Petty Officer Robert Ingram
Nickname(s) "Doc"
Born (1945-01-20) January 20, 1945
Clearwater, Florida
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Navy
Years of service 1963 - 1968
Rank Hospital Corpsman Third Class
Unit 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment
Battles/wars Vietnam War
Awards Medal of Honor
Silver Star Medal
Purple Heart Medal

Robert Roland Ingram (born January 20, 1945) is a retired United States Navy hospital corpsman third class and a recipient of the United States' highest military decoration—the Medal of Honor—for heroism above and beyond the call of duty in the Vietnam War.

Biography

Ingram was born in Clearwater, Florida. He joined the U.S. Navy from Coral Gables, Florida in November 1963. He completed recruit training and Hospital Corps School in San Diego, California, and the Fleet Marine Force (FMF), Field Medical Service School, at Camp Pendleton, California.

He was sent to Vietnam in July 1965 as a hospital corpsman third class attached to Company C, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. He was awarded the Silver Star Medal for treating several Marines while under enemy fire on February 8.[1] On March 28, during a firefight with North Vietnamese forces in Quang Ngai Province, Republic of Vietnam, Ingram continued to treat wounded Marines even after being seriously wounded four times.

Ingram's Medal of Honor was awarded on July 10, 1998 by President Bill Clinton during a ceremony in the White House, alongside twenty-four of the men he served with. The delay in the award, made more than thirty years after the battle, was attributed to lost paperwork.

Medal of Honor citation

Ingram's official Medal of Honor citation reads:

The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pleasure in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR to

HOSPITAL CORPSMAN THIRD CLASS ROBERT R. INGRAM
UNITED STATES NAVY

for service as set forth in the following

CITATION:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as Corpsman with Company C, First Battalion, Seventh Marines against elements of a North Vietnam Aggressor (NVA) battalion in Quang Ngai Province Republic of Vietnam on 28 March 1966. Petty Officer Ingram accompanied the point platoon as it aggressively dispatched an outpost of an NVA battalion. The momentum of the attack rolled off a ridge line down a tree covered slope to a small paddy and a village beyond. Suddenly, the village tree line exploded with an intense hail of automatic rifle fire from approximately 100 North Vietnamese regulars. In mere moments, the platoon ranks were decimated. Oblivious to the danger, Petty Officer Ingram crawled across the bullet spattered terrain to reach a downed Marine. As he administered aid, a bullet went through the palm of his hand. Calls for "CORPSMAN" echoed across the ridge. Bleeding, he edged across the fire swept landscape, collecting ammunition from the dead and administering aid to the wounded. Receiving two more wounds before realizing the third wound was life-threatening, he looked for a way off the face of the ridge, but again he heard the call for corpsman and again, he resolutely answered. Though severely wounded three times, he rendered aid to those incapable until he finally reached the right flank of the platoon. While dressing the head wound of another corpsman, he sustained his fourth bullet wound. From sixteen hundred hours until just prior to sunset, Petty Officer Ingram pushed, pulled, cajoled, and doctored his Marines. Enduring the pain from his many wounds and disregarding the probability of his demise, Petty Officer Ingram's intrepid actions saved many lives that day. By his indomitable fighting spirit, daring initiative, and unfaltering dedications to duty, Petty Officer Ingram reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.[2]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Marine Corps History Division http://www.mcu.usmc.mil/historydivision/Pages/Who's%20Who/G-I/Ingram_RR.aspx
  2. ↑ "Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipients (A-L)". Medal of Honor citations. United States Army Center of Military History. February 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-13.

References

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