Date of Award: July 10, 1998
Conflict: Vietnam War
Branch: U.S. Navy
On March 28, 1966, in Vietnam, Hospital Corpsman Third Class Robert Ingram’s unit attacked a numerically superior enemy force. Within minutes, more than 300 automatic weapons opened fire, killing or wounding all in the lead squad of C Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. Immediately, Ingram moved into the fire-swept field to reach the downed Marines. While treating a wounded Marine toward him, a bullet pierced his hand, another ripped through his knee joint. Then an enemy soldier shot him in his face beneath his right eye.
Ingram leveled his M-14 and put two rounds into the soldier. Disregarding his own pain, he resolutely answered further calls for aid from mid-afternoon until dusk. While treating a fallen hospital corpsman, Ingram was shot through the groin and buttocks, his fourth wound of the day. Finally, weak from blood loss and agonizing physical damage, he crawled to friendly lines.
Citation: “From sixteen hundred hours until almost sunset, Petty Officer Ingram pushed, pulled, cajoled, and doctored his Marines. Enduring the pain from his many wounds and disregarding the probability of his own death, Petty Officer Ingram's gallant actions saved many lives.”