Sergeant Rodney M. Davis served three years as an elite Marine Security Guard at the U.S. Embassy in London, before volunteering for duty in Vietnam in August of 1967. Barely a month into his assignment as a platoon guide, his company was assigned to a search and destroy mission in the Quang Nam province near Da Nang. On 6 September 1967 his company walked into an ambush, with North Vietnamese Army (NVA) forces surrounding them on three sides. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that day.
The Ambush, and the Grenade
The company was outnumbered many times over, and they quickly withdrew to a defensive trench. The NVA pursued the attack, with mortars, grenades and automatic weapons. Sgt. Davis rallied part of the platoon in the trench line, moving from man to man and encouraging them, while returning fire with his rifle and grenades.
“I see Rodney crawling on the bottom of the trench, pulling the hand grenade underneath himself.”
An NVA grenade landed in the trench. Two of the survivors of the attack described what happened. Randy Leedom, of Hillsboro, Oregon, was right next to Sgt. Davis when the grenade hit. “I jumped to the right.”
Sgt. Rodney M. Davis
Ron Posey, the senior sergeant for the company, said he heard the grenade hit the ground. “I see Rodney crawling on the bottom of the trench, pulling the hand grenade underneath himself.” Davis died in an instant, saving the lives of the other men in the trench.
“He saved my life,” Posey said. “He saved it for just that one moment. I could have been killed a thousand times after that. He gave me a chance to continue, and I used that chance to continue.” Posey was wounded twice during his service in Vietnam.
Posey was impressed with Sgt. Davis from the beginning. “He didn’t talk loud, but he got things done. Everything was always done before I asked him.” Most of the men didn’t know Sgt. Davis very well yet, because he was still new to the company. But Posey got to know him just a few days before the ambush, when they spent a night together in a foxhole. “It was the first time we ever had time to talk to each other and find out who we were.”
Citation
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as the right guide of the 2d Platoon, Company B, in action against enemy forces. Elements of the 2d Platoon were pinned down by a numerically superior force of attacking North Vietnamese Army Regulars. Remnants of the platoon were located in a trench line where Sgt. Davis was directing the fire of his men in an attempt to repel the enemy attack. Disregarding the enemy hand grenades and high volume of small arms and mortar fire, Sgt. Davis moved from man to man shouting words of encouragement to each of them while firing and throwing grenades at the onrushing enemy. When an enemy grenade landed in the trench in the midst of his men, Sgt. Davis, realizing the gravity of the situation, and in a final valiant act of complete self-sacrifice, instantly threw himself upon the grenade, absorbing with his body the full and terrific force of the explosion. Through his extraordinary initiative and inspiring valor in the face of almost certain death, Sgt. Davis saved his comrades from injury and possible loss of life, enabled his platoon to hold its vital position, and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
USS Rodney M. Davis
Guided-missile Frigate USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG-60)
The USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG 60), an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, is a ship of the United States Navy named for Marine Sergeant Rodney M. Davis (1942–1967), who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Vietnam War. The USS Rodney M. Davis was commissioned on 9 May 1987, and decommissioned in 2015.
USS Rodney M. Davis commemorative patch
Linwood Cemetery, Macon, Georgia
Sgt. Rodney M. Davis had the right to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, but his mother wanted him buried in Linwood Cemetery. Linwood is near the family home, in Macon, Georgia, and is the burial place of many African-American military men, going back to the days of the Buffalo Soldiers. It was the ‘black cemetery’ in the days of segregation.
It wasn’t right for a Medal of Honor recipient, or for the Marine who had saved his life.
In 2010, Randy Leedom was driving through Macon, and decided to stop and visit Rodney’s grave, to pay his respects to the man who saved his life. He was shocked and disappointed to find that Linwood Cemetery had fallen into disrepair. It had been a privately owned facility, and had passed through the hands of several owners before being abandoned.
Leedom was upset that the cemetery was overgrown, and that Rodney’s grave was marked only with a wooden sign in disrepair. It wasn’t right for a Medal of Honor recipient, or for the Marine who had saved his life. He contacted the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines Vietnam Veterans Association (1/5 VVA) and asked for help refurbishing the grave, and the cemetery. Other Marines whose lives were saved by Sgt. Davis also stepped up, as did the Montford Point Association. They donated money, and they gather twice a year at his grave to maintain it and the surrounding area in the cemetery.
Together, they raised over $80,000, and helped city residents create a non-profit to care for the cemetery. They built a monument on his grave, with a granite platform, an obelisk, and benches for visitors to sit on and meditate. They also established a $25,000 scholarship fund in the name of Rodney M. Davis, so Macon students will remember him.
All the Marines Sgt. Davis saved that day were white. Nicholas Warr, head of the 1/5 VVA effort to rededicate the grave, said, “There is not white, black, red and yellow here. Our job is to take care of each other.” Sgt. Rodney M. Davis, RIP.
