WEBVTT

00:02.033 --> 00:05.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
AMNA NAWAZ: One of the first
Black military officers to
lead an elite unit in combat

00:06.900 --> 00:09.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
today received the nation's
highest award for bravery
on the battlefield,

00:09.400 --> 00:13.000 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
righting what advocates say
was a decades-long injustice.

00:13.000 --> 00:18.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Geoff Bennett has the story
and a conversation with retired
Army Colonel Paris Davis.

00:20.233 --> 00:23.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
GEOFF BENNETT: Recognition
nearly 60 years overdue.

00:23.100 --> 00:25.100 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60%
(APPLAUSE)

00:25.100 --> 00:27.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
GEOFF BENNETT: President
Biden today awarding
retired Army Colonel Paris

00:27.900 --> 00:32.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Davis the Medal of Honor,
the U.S. military's most
prestigious decoration,

00:32.100 --> 00:36.366 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
for Davis' acts of
valor as a commander
during the Vietnam War.

00:36.366 --> 00:37.966 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
JOE BIDEN, President of
the United States: Paris,

00:39.866 --> 00:43.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
you are everything this
medal means, I mean
everything this medal means.

00:44.833 --> 00:47.733 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
And look, you're everything
our generation aspired

00:47.733 --> 00:51.333 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
to be. And you are everything
our nation is at our best.

00:51.333 --> 00:54.066 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
GEOFF BENNETT: Davis,
now 83 years old,

00:54.066 --> 00:59.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
was one of the first Black
officers to lead a U.S.
Special Forces team in combat.

00:59.066 --> 01:04.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
On June 18, 1965, Davis, then
a captain, led his team, plus
95 South Vietnamese troops,

01:07.966 --> 01:12.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
in a predawn raid on a
North Vietnamese army camp.
When the raid started,

01:14.966 --> 01:18.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
a counterattack forced the group
into a rice paddy with no cover.
Every American was wounded,

01:20.200 --> 01:24.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
some stranded. Davis, shot
and hit by grenade shrapnel,
raced back to rescue his team.

01:26.200 --> 01:27.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
COL. PARIS DAVIS
(RET.), Medal of Honor
Recipient: We were sort of

01:27.833 --> 01:30.800 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
submerged in the rice
paddy, had been shot
twice in the same foot.

01:30.800 --> 01:35.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
GEOFF BENNETT: Davis first
spoke of the battle in 1969
on the Phil Donahue show,

01:35.700 --> 01:39.900 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
sharing how he twice
refused orders from a
commander to withdraw.

01:39.900 --> 01:41.633 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
COL. PARIS DAVIS:
Well, I told him: "Sir,

01:41.633 --> 01:43.633 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
I'm just not going to
leave. I still have an
American out there."

01:43.633 --> 01:48.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
GEOFF BENNETT: The combat
lasted 19 hours. His
entire team survived.

01:49.766 --> 01:52.633 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
Immediately after, Davis'
commander submitted his

01:52.633 --> 01:57.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
name for the Medal of
Honor. But the military lost
his paperwork two times,

01:57.033 --> 02:02.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
with no record of it ever being
submitted. Davis' team has
long argued race played a role.

02:03.966 --> 02:06.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
RON DEIS, Former Special
Forces Soldier: It's been
emotional, to say the least.

02:06.033 --> 02:10.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
GEOFF BENNETT: Ron Deis, at 79,
is the team's youngest survivor.
He's also part of the group

02:12.833 --> 02:16.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
of advocates who painstakingly
recreated and resubmitted
Davis' Medal of Honor paperwork.

02:18.133 --> 02:19.666 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
What does Colonel
Davis mean to you?

02:19.666 --> 02:22.833 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
RON DEIS: In this past nine
years, working with the team

02:24.866 --> 02:29.166 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
to recreate all the
documentation it takes
for a medal like this,
growing very fond

02:34.133 --> 02:39.133 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
of him. I respected him
immensely when I was
under his command. And
that's never wavered.

02:43.000 --> 02:47.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
GEOFF BENNETT: We spoke with
Colonel Davis the day before
the Medal of Honor ceremony.

02:47.133 --> 02:51.033 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
In June of 1965, Davis
was 26 years old,

02:51.033 --> 02:55.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
a Black officer leading an
all-white unit. He recalled
the day of the attack.

02:55.866 --> 03:00.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
COL. PARIS DAVIS: I remember
that the first thing on
my mind was to get going.

03:02.800 --> 03:06.900 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
When you're in a situation
that is foreign to you,

03:08.933 --> 03:13.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
you take a moment and try
to piece it together. In
a war, you don't do that.

03:13.233 --> 03:16.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
GEOFF BENNETT: And you
were firing your rifle
with your pinkie finger...

03:16.633 --> 03:19.700 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
because your
hand was shattered by a grenade.

03:19.700 --> 03:22.966 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
COL. PARIS DAVIS: That's
right. Not only that.
The grenade knocked

03:22.966 --> 03:25.733 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
out a couple of my teeth
and some other things.

03:25.733 --> 03:30.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
And think about fighting,
pulling the trigger with
your little finger. It's

03:32.700 --> 03:37.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
slippery, blood everywhere,
people dying, a volley of
the Air Force dropping bombs,

03:42.533 --> 03:47.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
the artillery of firing shells.
And all this is happening, and
you got a couple of men down.

03:50.200 --> 03:55.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
GEOFF BENNETT: And you twice
disobeyed commands to withdraw,
to effectively abandon your men.

03:57.100 --> 04:00.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Well, it was really interesting,
because I'm trying to make
a decision of what -- how

04:02.633 --> 04:07.633 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
we can really handle the
wounded. I understand
he was a general officer

04:09.566 --> 04:12.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
and saying: "Don't worry.
Just leave him there.
And we will get him."

04:12.033 --> 04:14.633 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
And I'd said: "We're not going
to -- we're not going to go."

04:14.633 --> 04:19.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
It probably stopped me from
being a general officer, because
I had disobeyed an order.

04:20.666 --> 04:22.433 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
GEOFF BENNETT:
Immediately after that,

04:22.433 --> 04:25.200 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
your commander submitted your
name for the Medal of Honor.

04:26.666 --> 04:29.633 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
GEOFF BENNETT: But the paperwork
inexplicably disappeared twice.

04:30.766 --> 04:32.866 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
And there was no
record of the file.

04:34.866 --> 04:37.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
It strikes me that you
didn't have to wonder much
about the reason for that.

04:37.600 --> 04:42.600 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
COL. PARIS DAVIS: The
interesting thing there was,
the soldiers ere saying:
"What's going on here?"

04:47.433 --> 04:52.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
It brought to the fore racism
and the different way whites are
treated and Blacks are treated.

04:56.866 --> 05:01.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
They had never, to my
knowledge, at that time lost a
Medal of Honor citation that

05:05.433 --> 05:10.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
was lost by a white guy. But
they did with a Black guy.
And the soldiers knew it.

05:12.333 --> 05:16.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
And so it changed the whole
complexion of war, especially
when you're out there

05:19.133 --> 05:24.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
fighting with them, and they
know that it's not right.
And the other thing is,

05:27.300 --> 05:32.033 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
more important than that is the
fact that I pulled guard duty.

05:34.033 --> 05:37.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
They thought that that was
the thing that separated
me from other officers,

05:41.333 --> 05:45.466 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
because, when other
officers had teams, they
never pulled guard duty,

05:45.466 --> 05:50.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
that their lives were on the
line when they were pulling
guard duty. Why couldn't I?

05:51.900 --> 05:56.266 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
The other thing that we
did was the fact that NCOs

05:58.200 --> 06:02.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
all ran patrols. I was on
some of those patrol, not as a
leader, but as a machine gunner.

06:05.666 --> 06:08.500 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
GEOFF BENNETT: President Biden
called you to inform you that

06:08.500 --> 06:11.533 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
you would receive the
Medal of Honor. What
was that moment like?

06:11.533 --> 06:16.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
COL. PARIS DAVIS: I don't
know if a lot of people
know the president. But,

06:16.233 --> 06:20.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
in those five or six minutes
-- and he wanted to talk
longer -- he was so cordial.

06:20.866 --> 06:25.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Remember the balloons that
were up in the sky. I mean,
that's when I got the phone

06:27.800 --> 06:31.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
call. And we started talking.
And he had read a lot of
the things that I was doing,

06:33.100 --> 06:37.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
good things, the battles and
all that, and just a couple
of them, not in detail,

06:39.033 --> 06:41.933 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
but it was enough for
me to realize that he
knew what was going on.

06:41.933 --> 06:46.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
And so, during the conversation,
he would ask about the family
and about this and that. There

06:48.933 --> 06:52.300 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
was a time when he said
something about lunch,
and I said: "Are you
going to pay for it?"

06:52.300 --> 06:54.366 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
(LAUGHTER)
COL. PARIS DAVIS: He said:

06:54.366 --> 06:56.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
"Why the hell would I have
you there if I would have
to pay for it myself?"

06:58.766 --> 07:00.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
COL. PARIS DAVIS: And we
talked about the - - we were
talking about the White House.

07:00.366 --> 07:03.900 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
And we had a couple of three
really nice jokes there that

07:03.900 --> 07:07.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
aren't appropriate right
now. But I will tell you,
he's got a sense of humor.

07:07.766 --> 07:09.266 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
GEOFF BENNETT: How do
you think you're going to

07:09.266 --> 07:11.500 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
feel when he puts the Medal
of Honor around your neck?

07:11.500 --> 07:16.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
COL. PARIS DAVIS: Well, the
one thing that I'm really
afraid of doing is crying.

07:26.333 --> 07:31.333 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
The medal means to the
Black race than it means
to me. For so long, we
have had this reputation

07:43.200 --> 07:48.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
of not being part of America.
I think this medal might
settle that. And I think it's

07:52.666 --> 07:57.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
really important for something
like this to happen. Luckily,
it's happening to me.

07:59.700 --> 08:01.533 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70%
This medal means a lot.

08:03.500 --> 08:07.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
It means a lot to America to
see that we're all capable
of doing -- doing good.

08:10.900 --> 08:12.000 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80%
GEOFF BENNETT: What's it like

08:14.000 --> 08:18.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
living for 60 years knowing that
you deserved recognition for
what you were wrongfully denied?

08:20.300 --> 08:24.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
COL. PARIS DAVIS: The thing
that bothered me the most is,
the military, knowing that,

08:26.700 --> 08:31.500 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
didn't have the gumption to
give me a call to say, hey,

08:33.466 --> 08:37.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
we lost it, and we can't find
it, and then coming back and
said: "We understand that

08:45.833 --> 08:50.833 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
someone put the second
narrative in, and we
can't find it either."

08:53.866 --> 08:58.233 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
And I'm saying: "You're telling
me you lost the citation twice?"

08:59.666 --> 09:03.333 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
And they said: "No, no, no,
we just can't find it twice."

09:04.300 --> 09:06.333 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70%
And I said: "Right."

09:06.333 --> 09:10.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
It was something that doesn't
happen. You can name the number
of people that have won the

09:12.600 --> 09:16.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Medal of Honor. And to lose
-- just to lose that, that
citation, really pissed me off.

09:18.533 --> 09:23.533 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80%
But when -- when you find out,

09:25.500 --> 09:29.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
the silence is the word.
Nobody calls. No one says
anything for 50 years.

09:31.900 --> 09:35.466 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
GEOFF BENNETT: Well, it's all
being made right now. So...

09:35.466 --> 09:36.266 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80%
COL. PARIS DAVIS: That is.

09:36.266 --> 09:38.233 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70%
The other thing you is,

09:38.233 --> 09:43.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
I'm happy as a pig in
you-know-what that it is
going to be President Biden.

09:44.500 --> 09:45.933 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
GEOFF BENNETT: Well, Colonel
Davis, congratulations, sir.

09:47.133 --> 09:48.533 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
It is a real honor
to speak with you.

09:50.466 --> 09:53.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
And there are -- there are
lots of folks who thank you for
your sacrifice, your patience,

09:53.933 --> 09:57.000 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
your diligence, your tenacity,
your service. So, thank you.

09:58.466 --> 09:59.633 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
COL. PARIS DAVIS: No, thank
you. I really appreciate it.