John Plaster, Call of Duty: An anthology of Military History by Emily Lucas

Author:Emily Lucas [Lucas, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-09-10T00:00:00+00:00

DAVID DOLBY : AMERICAN SNIPER

When an active duty member of the U.S military is awarded the Medal of Honor, that soldier, sailor, Marine or airman is usually given an assignment far from the battlefield until their tour of duty or time in the service has ended. During World War II, Medal of Honor recipients were utilized on bond drives and recruitment tours. The armed forces, realizing both that these men (to this date, only one woman has won the Medal of Honor, and that was during the Civil War) have gone far above the call of duty and can potentially be more away from the battlefield than on it usually only reluctantly allows Medal of Honor winners to serve in combat once again.

The most well-known case of a Medal of Honor winner returning to combat is that of WWII Marine Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone (1916-1945). Awarded the nations' highest citation for his actions in the defense of a vital position in the early stages of the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942, Basilone returned to a heroes' welcome in the United States. Among the nations first World War II heroes, Basilone was given parades, took part in bond tours, appeared in newsreels urging men to join the Marines and for American's to contribute to the war effort with all they had.

Basilone (who had already served in the Army before joining the Marines in 1940) did not adjust well to life “stateside”, despite his happy marriage to Marine Reserve Sergeant Lena Mae Riggi. He refused promotion and an assignment as an instructor, and pushed for reinstatement for active front line duty, which was finally granted in time for the run up to the invasion of Iwo Jima in February 1945. It was there while leading his men on an assault on a Japanese position that Basilone was killed by enemy fire. Just over twenty years later, a Medal of Honor winner named David Dolby voluntarily returned to combat in Vietnam.

In 1964, when David Dolby first joined the US Army, the United States was becoming more and more involved in the war between communist North Vietnam and pro-Western South Vietnam. Vietnam had been a French colonial possession from the late 19th century onward, but after the disaster of WWII and its defeat by the forces of the Vietnamese communists at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, France relinquished control of its possessions in Southeast Asia. By agreement, Vietnam was split into two nations, and it was hoped by the French that the United States would support the new anti-Communist government in the South, based in Saigon (today's Ho Chi Minh City).

By the late 1950's and early 1960's, the United States had been involved in a political and ideological battle with the communist Soviet Union (and its ally the People's Republic of China) for over a decade. In the minds of politicians of both sides, inroads by the other side anywhere in the world had to be countered by the other. Politicians from both parties

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