Qualla: Paris Davis

Paris Davis: Introduction

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Washington D.C, United States, CC BY 2.0. The paperwork disappeared twice. The first nomination for the Medal of Honor went in after June 1965, when Captain Paris Davis had spent nearly twenty hours under fire near Bồng Sơn in Bình Định Province, going back again and again into enemy fire to bring out his wounded soldiers. The paperwork was lost. A second nomination followed years later. That disappeared too. For 58 years, Davis carried a Silver Star — the citation that acknowledged what he had done without fully honoring it. He did not speak bitterly about the delay. He simply waited, and lived his life, and in March 2023 stood in the White House to receive, at age 83, what had been owed to him since before some of the people in that room were born.

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Image: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Washington D.C, United States | CC BY 2.0

Paris Davis: The Man Who Arrived at Camp Bồng Sơn

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Maryland GovPics, CC BY 4.0. Paris Davis was born on May 13, 1939, and grew up to study political science at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on an ROTC scholarship. He was commissioned as a Reserve Component officer in 1959, earned his Airborne and Ranger qualifications in 1960, and qualified ...

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Image: Maryland GovPics | CC BY 4.0

Paris Davis: June 18, 1965

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Maryland GovPics, CC BY 4.0. The engagement began during a raid on a Viet Cong position near Bồng Sơn, returning through the coastal lowlands when the ambush came. Davis's team was badly exposed. One by one, four American soldiers went down: his team sergeant shot in the foot and leg, a weapons specialist wo...

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Image: Maryland GovPics | CC BY 4.0

Paris Davis: The Lost Paperwork and the Long Wait

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Washington D.C, United States, CC BY 2.0. After June 1965, the nomination for the Medal of Honor was prepared. It disappeared. A second nomination was submitted years later. It also disappeared. Davis received the Silver Star — significant, but not the nation's highest honor. He served a third Vietnam tour in 1969. He la...

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Image: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Washington D.C, United States | CC BY 2.0

Paris Davis: The White House, 2023

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Washington D.C, United States, CC BY 2.0. On March 3, 2023, President Joe Biden presented the Medal of Honor to Paris Davis in a ceremony at the White House — 58 years after the action it recognized, and after two previous nominations that both vanished into files that were never found. The third nomination had required ...

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Image: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Washington D.C, United States | CC BY 2.0