Medic ‘secretly’ in Laos receives Medal of Honor

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A U.S. Army medic will receive the Medal of Honor for his heroic acts during a “secret war” in Laos during the Vietnam War.

Sgt. Gary Rose, 68, was unofficially part of a secret Studies and Observations Group, an elite division of Special Forces that was in Laos in 1970. 

Although U.S. troops were unofficially there, Rose is poised to be recognized for his service in Laos. While there, Rose cared for 51 wounded soldiers as hundreds of North Vietnamese troops closed in on a small team of U.S. Army commandos, reported the Houston Chronicle. Rose sprinted through crossfire to aid the injured, hefting a man over his shoulder and firing back with one hand. He didn’t sleep for days, and continued to aid others after being hit by a rocket. 

“I didn’t do anything heroic. I was just doing my job like anyone else,” Rose said. 

Rose’s service, though, remained unrecognized at the time, as President Richard Nixon denied there were U.S. troops even in Laos. 

During the Vietnam War, Laos was deemed neutral territory and off-limits to foreign troops. 
However, North Vietnamese forces used Laotian jungles to funnel weapons into Vietnam. In turn, the U.S. sent in special forces to disrupt them. 

“The Army still doesn’t want to admit it. Even to this day, I put in a Laos citation, the Army takes it out. It’s almost a game, but it’s not really funny. Rose is unique in that they finally left in the truth,” Army veteran and researcher Neith Thorne said. 

Veterans of the Studies and Observations Group have worked to gain recognition for men like Rose; the elite team had one of the highest kill rates and highest casualty rates in Vietnam. 

“Because we were where we weren’t supposed to be, a lot of men never got what they deserved,” Eugene McCarley, a retired lieutenant colonel who was Rose’s commander said. “Rose is one of them. He was a damn good medic and the level of gallantry and disregard for his own safety that he showed — I’ve rarely seen anything like it.”

Rose, who now lives in Alabama and volunteers with poor and disabled people, remarked that he has rarely thought about Operation Tailwind.

“I don’t want to make it sound like I’m brave. The trembling, the throwing up, the fear, that always happened, but only after. In the moment, I was just concentrating on what I had to do. I didn’t want to let anyone down,” Rose said. 

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