Lance Cpl. James H. Stogner (Left) was a young 18-year-old Marine ammo humper serving with C Co. 1/9.
On the evening of April 5, 1967, as the sun set, Stogner and his platoon were tasked to push across a tree line toward a village. Unbeknownst to them, they were walking into a deadly ambush.
As darkness fell, illumination rounds lit up the night sky revealing some enemy positions, a sudden quick burst from Stogner’s rifle took out 3 NVA soldiers. But return fire smacked Stogner’s rifle, slamming him in the face and breaking his nose.
Wounded, Stogner dropped into the prone position as grenade and mortar rounds exploded all around him. As the illumination rounds died out, much of his platoon had been killed or wounded, cut down by enemy fire.
Enemy troops then pushed across the field, killing wounded Marines and taking their equipment. Stogner, armed with his Ka-bar, low crawled through in the dark near his wounded fellow comrades and managed to kill 3 NVA troops with his knife.
But Cpl. Eli Foggs (Right) was captured and dragged into the vegetation across the NVA entrenched position.
Stogner continued to crawl and moved undetected towards Foggs’ screams, where he found 4 NVA soldiers kicking and abusing his comrade.
Stogner killed one of the NVA troops quietly with his Ka-bar as the enemy soldier moved toward vegetation Stogner was hiding in, and a second NVA soldier was killed in similar fashion.
With 2 NVA soldiers remaining, Stogner stormed the position armed with his knife, thrusting it into one of the men’s chests as hand to hand combat ensued.
All four NVA troops were killed as Stogner slung Foggs over his shoulder and grabbed his M60 machine gun, carrying him to friendly lines through a hail of gunfire and grenade explosions.
For his heroism under fire, Stogner was finally awarded the Navy Cross nearly 52 years after his actions saved the life of his machine gunner and other Marines in his company. #slayer