then Add to Home Screen.
An Indiana National Guard infantry company that fought in the Vietnam War will receive the U.S. military’s highest honor Saturday during the opening ceremony of the 148th Geneal Conference & Exhibition.
Company D (Ranger), 151st Infantry will receive the Presidential Unit Citation, which is given for extraordinary heroism, gallantry and determination in action against an armed enemy under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions.
The Indiana Rangers, which is how unit members are known today, received more individual decorations during a one-year deployment than any other Army infantry company in the Vietnam War.
The list includes 19 Silver Stars, one Soldiers Medal, 123 Bronze Stars (88 with “V” device for valor), 101 Purple Hearts, 111 Air Medals and 183 Army Commendation Medals (29 with “V” device), according to the Army Historical Foundation, but never a unit award.
Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., spearheaded the effort to change that. She put the unit in for the PUC earlier this year.
More than 200 members of Company D departed Indianapolis for post-mobilization training in May 1968. They served in Southeast Asia from December 1968 through November 1969, mostly in a densely populated area north of Saigon, the capital of then-South Vietnam.
About 40 members of Company D — all now in their 80s — will attend the ceremony tomorrow.
“Our nation has long owed these men and their families this recognition,” said retired Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn, the association’s president. “We’re thrilled to host the ceremony. I doubt there will be many dry eyes in the room.”
The Indiana Rangers are specifically being recognized for “extraordinary heroism in support of Operation Toan Thang” from July 3 to July 14, 1969.
“The Soldiers from Company D, 151st Infantry (Ranger) conducted dangerous long-range patrol and ambush missions against a determined and deadly enemy,” reads the citation.
“They penetrated deep into base camps and successfully harassed enemy movement, routes of supply and denied the enemy entrance to the Bien Hoa, Long Binh area,” it adds.
More than 4,000 current and former Guard officers, family members and supporters from around the country will attend the conference, which begins today and runs through Monday.
Featured speakers Saturday include Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, Gen. Steven S. Nordhaus, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, Gen. Christopher C. LaNeve, the acting chief of staff of the Army, and Space Force Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, the director of Golden Dome.
Braun, Nordhaus, LaNeve and Spartz will all participate in the Presidential Unit Citation presentation.
Braun will present the surviving unit members with the Sagamore of the Wabash award, with is the highest honor given by the governor of Indiana to those who have rendered distinguished service to the state.
—By John Goheen
