Info Sheet - SP5 Dwight W. Birdwell
see Medal Of Honor Award - see Comments
Dwight Birdwell was born in Amarillo, Texas, on 19 January 1948. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, he grew up in the small, predominantly Cherokee Indian community of Bell, Oklahoma. He attended Bell Grade School, and graduated from Stilwell High School in 1966.
Birdwell entered the Army on 24 May 1966. Birdwell was assigned to Troop C, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 25th Infantry Division. He received his first Silver Star (upgraded to the Medal of Honor) for heroism on 31 January 1968, when his unit raced to defend Tan Son Nhut Air Base, which was under attack during the Tet Offensive. Troop C was the first American ground unit from outside the airbase to respond to the attack. When Birdwell's tank commander was seriously wounded, Birdwell took command and placed intense fire on the attacking People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces until his ammunition was expended. He then retrieved an M60 machine gun and continued firing at the PAVN until the weapon was damaged by PAVN fire, which also wounded Birdwell. With disregard for his own safety, he ran through a hail of PAVN fire to get more ammunition for his men from other damaged vehicles. On the night of 4 July 1968, he again risked his life to rescue more Americans, some of them wounded, who were stranded in a battle zone in an enemy-occupied village. Seeing a damaged Army personnel carrier, he exposed himself to heavy enemy fire while loading all of the wounded and evacuating them to safety. He then went back into the village to rescue more Americans, for which he was awarded his second Silver Star for bravery.
Birdwell returned to the United States in December 1968. Birdwell attended Northeastern State University and then the University of Oklahoma College of Law, graduating in 1976. He was a member of the Judicial Appeals Tribunal (Supreme Court) of the Cherokee Nation from 1987 to 1999, serving as its chief justice from 1995 to 1996 and 1998 to 1999. He is now a practicing attorney in Oklahoma City. For a number of years he served on the Cherokee Nation Judicial Appeals Tribunal.
He and his wife of 53 years (Virginia) have two children and two grandchildren.
President Biden presented Birdwell with the Medal of Honor on 5 July 2022 in a ceremony at the White House.
Award of the Medal Of Honor:
Specialist Five Dwight W. Birdwell distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving with C Troop, 3d Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 25th Infantry Division in the Republic of Vietnam on 31 January, 1968. On this date, C Troop was ordered to move south to help repel an enemy attack on Tan Son Nhut Airbase. As the C Troop column of tanks and armored personnel carriers approached the west gate of Tan Son Nhut Airbase, it came under intense enemy fire from a building to its right. Unbeknown to C Troop, it had driven directly into an enemy force consisting of three battalions. The column tried to push through the initial attack but the lead tank, crippled by a rocket-propelled grenade explosion, was blocking the way forward. C Troop immediately came under heavy enemy fire from both sides of the road. Specialist Five Birdwell, upon seeing that his tank commander was wounded by enemy fire, immediately went to his aid. Under intense enemy fire, he lowered the injured tank commander to the ground, and moved him to safety. Specialist Five Birdwell then, with complete disregard for his own safety, mounted the tank and assumed the tank commander's position. Standing in the tank commander's hatch with the upper half of his body exposed to heavy enemy fire, Specialist Five Birdwell used the tank's .50 caliber machine gun and 90mm main gun to suppress the enemy attack. With the ammunition for the 90mm main gun exhausted, he continued to fire the .50 caliber machine gun until it overheated. At this point, Specialist Five Birdwell, rather than abandoning his position, continued to engage the enemy with his M-16 rifle, sometimes exposing his entire body to enemy fire in order to engage the enemy from a better vantage point. When a U.S. helicopter crashed nearby, Specialist Five Birdwell, under withering enemy fire, dismounted and moved to the helicopter where he retrieved two M-60 machine guns and ammunition. After giving one M-60 and ammunition to a fellow soldier, he remounted his tank and used the other M-60 to again engage the enemy. Specialist Five Birdwell continued to engage the enemy with complete disregard for his own safety until the M-60 he was firing was hit by enemy fire. Specialist Five Birdwell, now wounded in the face, neck, chest, and arms, dismounted the tank but refused to be medically evacuated. Instead, Specialist Five Birdwell, under enemy fire, rallied fellow soldiers to advance toward the front of the armored column where they set up a defensive position by a large tree. From this position, he and the other soldiers engaged the enemy with M-16 fire and grenades. As the enemy fire lessened, Specialist Five Birdwell gathered ammunition from disabled vehicles and helped wounded soldiers move to safer positions. His leadership and tenacity under fire inspired the other C Troop soldiers to continue fighting against the superior enemy force, and directly contributed to the enemy's ultimate defeat. Specialist Five Birdwell's extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
Comments:
Dwight Birdwelll: With regard to the D Troop chopper that crashed behind my tank on 1-31-68, Keith Nolan, in his book THE BATTLE FOR SAIGON-TET 1968, details the crash on pages 69-71. I remember either a well-groomed, fresh-in-appearance pilot or crew chief of the downed chopper resisting my efforts to remove the M-60'S, but his objection faded quickly. Bob Wolford of Battle Creek, MI was given one of the two M-60'S I retrieved from the chopper. Bob vividly remembers the event. Bob's 113 APC may have been captured or destroyed a few days later at Hoc Mon, possibly with the M-60 I gave him which was removed from the D Troop chopper. C Troop took a savage thrashing at Hoc Mon on two days in February,1968.
Daniel Dobbs: Commander of the lead Scout Jeep for the Cu Chi/Tay Ninh resupply convoy 25th I.D. note 2024
Dwight is a good friend of mine. We met on June 13, 1968 outside of An Duc, west of Cu Chi, where he and I were both wounded when Dwight's tank driver was killed trying to help me. I was in command of the scout jeep for the 25th ID resupply convoy for the first half of my tour then the last half I was a team leader of a LRP team. In 1997 I was at a bookstore and saw a book titled, "Hundred Miles of Bad Road," and immediately thought, this has to be about Highway One in Vietnam that we traveled with the convoy in Vietnam. Sure enough it was and I bought it. When I got to the part where Dwight's tank driver was killed it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was there when this happened, wow was I flabbergasted. I saw in the back of the book that Dwight was an attorney so I looked up the Oklahoma Attorney Bar Association on my computer and found Dwight's phone number. Dwight answered and I said, "Mr. Birdwell, you don't know me but I just read your book and there is a part where your driver was killed at An Duc. I was there when that happened and the driver was trying to help me." Dwight paused, then said, "You were an MP weren't you?" When I said I was Dwight said, "I remember talking to you when the mine went off killing my driver." Since I came home 29 August, 1968, I have always wondered who the soldier that died trying to help me was, so I asked Dwight who it was and he told me. Now I had the soldier's name. Dwight and I have remained in contact with each other and have become good friends.