Issue #1,088 Today In Black History, Monday, October 19, 2026
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On a September day in 1969, deep in South Vietnam, Staff Sergeant Melvin Morris ran toward enemy gunfire to bring home a fallen friend. He was shot three times. He brought him home anyway. It would take his country almost 45 years to give him the full honor he earned that day.
An Oklahoma Boy Who Never Stopped Learning
Melvin Morris was born on January 7, 1942, in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. He grew up poor in a segregated state, and he dropped out of school. In 1959, he joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard and later served on active duty.
He earned his GED, then took night classes in uniform until he earned his high school diploma. “Education is a continuous process; it never stops,” he tells students. “You learn every day.”
In 1961, he married Mary. That same year, as President John F. Kennedy expanded the Army’s Special Forces, Morris became one of the first soldiers to earn the Green Beret, and one of the first Black soldiers to wear it.
September 17, 1969
Morris volunteered for two tours in Vietnam. On September 17, 1969, he was commanding a strike force from the 5th Special Forces Group near Chi Lang. His companies ran into an enemy minefield and came under heavy fire. A fellow team commander was killed near an enemy bunker.
Morris reorganized his men and moved forward with two soldiers to recover the body. When both were wounded, he got them back to safety. Then he went forward alone. He destroyed four enemy bunkers with hand grenades, drove off the enemy near his fallen comrade, and carried him back to friendly lines. He was hit three times along the way.
“What I learned as a Green Beret,” he later said, “was not to leave anyone behind, in combat or wherever; it doesn’t matter.”
In April 1970, he received the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second-highest award for combat valor. That same month, he went back to Vietnam for his second tour. He retired as a Sergeant First Class in 1985.
Sgt. Melvin Morris earned several military honors:
Medal of Honor
Bronze Star Medal (2)
Purple Heart (2)
Meritorious Service Medal
Air Medal
Army Commendation Medal (2) with“V” device
A Phone Call Decades in the Making
Congress eventually ordered the Pentagon to review the records of Black, Hispanic, and Jewish veterans of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam who may have been denied the Medal of Honor because of prejudice. Morris’s record was one of them.
In May 2013, his phone rang. It was President Barack Obama. Morris didn’t believe it, so he called the White House to check. A Pentagon officer set him straight: “If I tell you something’s official, it’s official.”
On March 18, 2014, Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to 24 soldiers from three wars. Twenty-one of them had died waiting. Only three were still alive. Melvin Morris, then 72, was one of them.
The Legacy of a Soldier Who Speaks Up
In 2015, Morris appeared on a U.S. Postal Service Forever stamp sheet honoring Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipients. In 2016, the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame inducted him.
His greatest influence may be in classrooms. He talks about commitment, courage, and integrity. He also talks openly about post-traumatic stress. “I didn’t even think I was gonna make it this far,” he has said, “until I got enough courage to turn myself in for help.” His message to young people is simple: “I want to let the kids know they’re not out there by themselves.”
He learned the same lesson in 1961 and lived it in 1969. You don’t leave anyone behind. As Morris puts it: “Do what you have to do, don’t do nothing less.”
In 1870, Robert Brown Elliott, Robert C. DeLarge, and Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina became the first Black members elected to the House of Representatives.
In 1943, Paul Robeson starred in the Theatre Guild’s “Othello,” which ran for a record 226 performances.
In 1944, the U.S. Navy finally admitted Black women in the women’s Reserves.
In 2008, General Colin Powell endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president.
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