Gary Burnell Beikirch MOH

b. 29/08/1947 Rochester, New York. d. 26/12/2021 Greece, New York. 

DATE OF MOH ACTION; 01/04/1970 Dak Seang, Vietnam.

Gary B Beikirch MOH

Beikirch was born on August 29, 1947, in Rochester, New York. Beikirch joined the U.S. Army in August 1967, just after finishing his second year of college in upstate New York. He was interested in becoming a Green Beret from the very beginning. He completed basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and then went on to Fort Benning, Georgia, for jump school. He completed jump school, passed the Special Forces test and went on to training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. After finishing phase one special forces training, he completed training to become a combat medic. He was sent to Vietnam in July 1969.

In Vietnam, Beikirch served as a sergeant with Company B of the 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces. The group was stationed at Dak Seang Camp, home to Montagnard villagers and fighters, in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum. It was there that he was to perform the deeds that saw him awarded the Medal of Honor. He was eventually evacuated by helicopter from the battle and spent six months recovering at the Valley Forge Medical Center in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and discharged from the Army the following year. He was presented with his Medal by President Richard M. Nixon at The White House on 15 October 1973. Among his other decorations and awards include the Silver Star, the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart (with one oak leaf cluster), the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry (with silver star),and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

After his military service, Beikirch attended White Mountain Seminary in New Hampshire, graduating in 1975. He planned to go back to Vietnam and work in a missionary hospital in Kon Tum Province, where he had served in the Army, however the country fell to North Vietnamese forces before he could return. He instead worked as a pastor and received a master’s degree in counseling. Since the mid-1980s he has worked as a guidance counselor at a middle school in his native Rochester, New York. He died of pancreatic cancer, aged 74, on Boxing Day, 2021. 

 

MOH CITATION:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Beikirch, medical aidman, Detachment B-24, Company B, distinguished himself during the defense of Camp Dak Seang. The allied defenders suffered a number of casualties as a result of an intense, devastating attack launched by the enemy from well-concealed positions surrounding the camp. Sgt. Beikirch, with complete disregard for his personal safety, moved unhesitatingly through the withering enemy fire to his fallen comrades, applied first aid to their wounds and assisted them to the medical aid station. When informed that a seriously injured American officer was lying in an exposed position, Sgt. Beikirch ran immediately through the hail of fire. Although he was wounded seriously by fragments from an exploding enemy mortar shell, Sgt. Beikirch carried the officer to a medical aid station. Ignoring his own serious injuries, Sgt. Beikirch left the relative safety of the medical bunker to search for and evacuate other men who had been injured. He was again wounded as he dragged a critically injured Vietnamese soldier to the medical bunker while simultaneously applying mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to sustain his life. Sgt. Beikirch again refused treatment and continued his search for other casualties until he collapsed

 

BURIAL LOCATION: WHITE HAVEN MEMORIAL PARK, PITTSFORD, NEW YORK.

SECTION GS, LOT 6, GRAVE 1.

LOCATION OF MEDAL: FAMILY.