Vietnam Veteran from Chattanooga will be awarded the Medal of Honor
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Signal Mountain's Larry Taylor received a Silver Star for his actions in Vietnam on the night of June 12, 1968. Now his Silver Star is being upgraded to the highest honor a service member can receive, the Medal of Honor. On the night of June 12, 1968, Hill and 3 other men were on a reconnaissance mission surveilling a village during the Vietnam War. Those soldiers quickly realized they were surrounded about the time the firefight started. Hill quickly realized they were in trouble and needed support from the air. That is when Taylor entered the fight. Taylor flew Cobra helicopters. The Army had only been using them in the Vietnam War for a few months at that time. Taylor and co-pilot J. O. Ratliff, as well as one other Cobra Helicopter, flew over the firefight providing air support until they were out of rockets and ammunition. Then Taylor came up with a plan for the four-man LRRP team to create a diversion and then run 100 yards from where they were and lie in the grass. That is when Taylor landed the Cobra in the middle of that firefight as the soldiers on the ground held tight to the skids and the rocket pods on the helicopter. Taylor lifted those men out of that fight and onto a safer location several miles away.
