David H McNerney
David was born on the 2nd of June, 1931, in Lowell, Massachusetts, and was one of five children born to Edward and Helen. David’s father was a veteran of World War 1 and had earned the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, and the French Croix de Guerre for his actions, as well as four battle clasps on his campaign medal and a Purple Heart. The family moved from Massachusetts to Houston, Texas when David was about nine years old and he graduated from St Thomas High School in 1949. He followed in the footsteps of his father and entered military service after high school, enlisting in the US Navy, and served in two deployments during the Korean War. He was discharged in 1952 and David attended the University of Houston for a short time before realizing that he did not like school and that military service was more his style. He enlisted in the US Army in 1953 and he married Parmelia in 1961, shortly before he volunteered for special warfare training.
David was among the first five hundred US military advisors to be sent to Vietnam and he returned for a second deployment in 1964, before being sent to Fort Lewis to help train. One company that he had been selected to train was Company A, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division and he was not originally supposed to deploy with the company but due to the bond developed during the year’s training, he volunteered to deploy for a third time in 1966 as the First Sergeant of Company A. On the 21st of March, 1967, David’s Campany A, along with Company B, were dropped into The Valley of Tears to search for a missing Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol and it was his actions the following morning, just fifteen minutes after breaking camp, that would earn him the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:
1st Sgt. McNerney distinguished himself when his unit was attacked by a North Vietnamese battalion near Polei Doc. Running through the hail of enemy fire to the area of heaviest contact, he was assisting in the development of a defensive perimeter when he encountered several enemy at close range. He killed the enemy but was painfully injured when blown from his feet by a grenade. In spite of this injury, he assaulted and destroyed an enemy machine-gun position that had pinned down five of his comrades beyond the defensive line. Upon learning his commander and artillery forward observer had been killed, he assumed command of the company. He adjusted artillery fire to within 20 meters of the position in a daring measure to repulse enemy assaults. When the smoke grenades used to mark the position were gone, he moved into a nearby clearing to designate the location to friendly aircraft. In spite of enemy fire he remained exposed until he was certain the position was spotted and then climbed into a tree and tied the identification panel to its highest branches. Then he moved among his men readjusting their position, encouraging the defenders and checking the wounded. As the hostile assaults slackened, he began clearing a helicopter landing site to evacuate the wounded. When explosives were needed to remove large trees, he crawled outside the relative safety of his perimeter to collect demolition material from abandoned rucksacks. Moving through a fusillade of fire he returned with the explosives that were vital to the clearing of the landing zone. Disregarding the pain of his injury and refusing medical evacuation, 1st Sgt. McNerney remained with his unit until the next day when the new commander arrived. 1st Sgt. McNerney's outstanding heroism and leadership were inspirational to his comrades. His actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.
Company A had woke up that morning with 108 troops: 43 would be wounded and 22 would be killed in action. Two Distinguished Service Crosses, seven Silver Stars, twenty-five Bronze Stars, and sixty-five Purple Hearts were awarded to the members of Company A. In contrast, one hundred and thirty enemy bodies had been found in the perimeter, along with more than four hundred graves. David returned to the States and was sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey, to work as a training instructor. To add to the decorations of the Battalion, David received the Medal of Honor from President Johnson on the 19th of September, 1968, in a ceremony at the White House, making him one of four 1st Battalion members to receive the Medal during the Vietnam War. He volunteered for one last deployment to Vietnam, this time with Company B, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, but instead retired from the Army in December of 1969 after twenty-one years in service (four Navy and seventeen Army).
David and Parmelia moved to the Houston area and he got a job at the Port of Houston as a customs inspector. He did this job for twenty-five years until his retirement in 1995 and he went on to attend events as a speaker. David donated his Medal of Honor to St Thomas High School in 2004 and in 2010, a documentary was released about his actions and the actions of the men of Company A that day. “Honor in the Valley of Tears” was co-written by John Ponsoll, whose father had served with David that day, and it premiered at the GI Film Festival in Washington DC. At the same time, David had been diagnosed with non-treatable lung cancer and he entered hospice care one week before his death on the 10th of October, 2010. David Herbert McNerney was 79 years old when he died and he joined his wife six days later in the Houston National Cemetery, in Houston, Texas: Section H-A, Site 4.
