New MOH Graphic Novel from AUSA: Green Beret Roger Donlon
The twelfth and latest Association of the United States Army graphic novel in its Medal of Honor series focuses on Roger Donlon, the former Green Beret who was the first American to receive the nation’s highest military award for valor in the Vietnam War.
Donlon received the honor after he, as the CO of a 12-man Green Beret team working with South Vietnamese forces, led a five-hour defense of a Special Forces camp at Nam Dong, west of DaNang near the Laotian border, that was attacked on the night of July 6, 1964, by two battalions of NVA and Viet Cong.
Though severely wounded, Donlon rallied the defenders who warded off the attack, but only after hours and hours of fighting that resulted in the deaths of 47 South Vietnamese, 2 Americans, an Australian Military adviser.
As his MOH citation put it:
Donlon “directed the defense operations in the midst of an enemy barrage of mortar shells, falling grenades, and extremely heavy gunfire. Upon the initial onslaught, he swiftly marshaled his force…. He then dashed through a hail of small arms and exploding hand grenades to abort a breach of the main gate. En route to this position he detected an enemy demolition team of 3 in the proximity of the main gate and quickly annihilated them. Although exposed to the intense grenade attack, he then succeeded in reaching a 60mm mortar position despite sustaining a severe stomach wound….”
The 12-page graphic novel—put together by a team of professional comic book writers and artists—is also graphic in its depiction of the dead and wounded in that intense battle.
AUSA is offering a complimentary digital graphic novel to readers of The VVA Veteran. You can download it at www.ausa.org/donlon
For info and links to the other MOH graphic novels in the series, go to www.ausa.org/moh
September 28, 2021