Then-1st Lt. Larry L. Taylor in his UH-1 “Huey” helicopter. Taylor served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968 with D Troop (Air), 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division. He flew over 2,000 combat missions in UH-1 and Cobra helicopters. (Photo courtesy of Lewis D. Ray)
By: FEDweek StaffSome 55 years after he earned it, former Army Capt. Larry L. Taylor now holds the Medal of Honor. President Biden presented the nation’s highest honor for valor in combat to Taylor during a Sept. 5 ceremony in the White House East Room.
Records show that Taylor, an AH1-G Cobra attack helicopter pilot, repeatedly put his aircraft into harm’s way in June 1968, in an effort to protect and then rescue four reconnaissance soldiers on the ground who were surrounded by roughly 100 enemy combatants.
The action took place in Ap Co Gong, South Vietnam, and began when Taylor heard a faint radio call from the team and took off to help them in response. Unable to locate the soldiers in the darkness, he requested that they fire a flare – identifying both his and their locations in the process. He then headed to lower altitude and directed intense fire on the enemy positions, while running low on both fuel and ammunition. The enemy on the ground returned fire and struck his Cobra. Taylor nevertheless continued to try to help the soldiers on the ground, using his landing lights to attract enemy attention away from them while an extraction team headed toward their position. In time, Taylor landed at the extraction point. The four soldiers climbed aboard the skids and rocket pods. Taylor then took off again and carried them to safety.
Taylor, who now lives in Signal Mountain, Tennessee, ignored both a direct order and rules of engagement that would have called for him to end his effort to save the reconnaissance team.
“When duty called, Larry did everything; did everything to answer,” Biden said during the White House ceremony. “And because of that, he rewrote the fate of four families for generations to come. That’s valor. That’s our nation at its very best.”
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