cool dudes i admire: Captain RILEY PITTS

One month before he was rotated to head back home, Captain Riley Pitts and the men of the 25th infantry division were called to reinforce another company engaged in a fire fight with enemy forces near Ap Dong, Vietnam. The second they disembarked, they received heavy fire from all directions— two of the four enemy bunkers were within 20 yards of their position. 

His rifle fire proved ineffective against the enemy due to the dense foliage, so Pitts picked up an M79 grenade launcher and began destroying the targets. Seizing a grenade taken from a captured Viet Cong's web gear, he lobbed it at a bunker to his front but it hit the foliage and rebounded. Without hesitating, Pitts threw himself on the grenade but it failed to detonate— sparing him.

He directed the company to reposition as they prepared friendly artillery to be fired. Once complete, he continued to lead his men toward enemy positions— accounts are that Pitts personally killed more of the enemy at point blank range. He continued to engage until he was fatally wounded.

In 1968, Pitts posthumously received the Medal on Honor. At the ceremony, President Johnson said “What this man did in an hour of incredible courage will live in the story of America as long as America endures - as he will live in the hearts and memories of those who lived him. He was a brave man, and a leader of men. No grater thing could be said of any man.”