On May 24, 1969, in Vietnam, Staff Sergeant James Bondsteel served as a platoon sergeant with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry, 1st Infantry Division when his unit was sent to help a friendly force pinned down by intense fire from a North Vietnamese battalion dug into a heavily fortified base camp.

As the fight erupted, SSG Bondsteel immediately organized his platoon into combat teams and led the assault himself, destroying four enemy bunkers. When a neighboring platoon began to falter, he sprinted nearly 200 meters through heavy enemy fire to reach them, rallying the men and helping evacuate wounded soldiers. He then ran back under fire to his own platoon, bringing critically needed ammunition.

Without hesitation, Bondsteel returned to the front and continued the attack, destroying four more enemy bunkers and eliminating a machine-gun position threatening the advance. Wounded by an enemy grenade, he refused medical treatment and pressed on, neutralizing two additional bunkers.

While clearing one emplacement, he narrowly escaped death when an enemy soldier detonated a grenade at close range. Moments later, Bondsteel rushed to the aid of a wounded officer and killed an enemy soldier who was about to take the officer’s life.

For more than four hours, SSG Bondsteel led from the front—rallying his platoon and neighboring units, breaking through fortified enemy positions, and driving the enemy back until his company was finally relieved. By the end of the battle, he had destroyed ten enemy bunkers, eliminated key enemy leaders, and saved the lives of many fellow soldiers.

For his extraordinary heroism that day, Staff Sergeant James Bondsteel was awarded the Medal of Honor.

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