photo #8308592

Ola Lee Mize spent a total of 4 years in Vietnam as a Special Forces officer, during which he was shot multiple times and earned a Silver Star and 5 Bronze Stars. Previously during the Korean War, he earned the Medal of Honor. On June 10, 1953, at a place called Outpost Harry, Mize and his company from the 15th Infantry Regiment fought off a Chinese force outnumbering them 30 to 1. Mize seemed omnipresent over the outpost fighting off the enemy and resupplying his men. When one of his men was overrun, Mize battled his way to the gun and killed 10 enemy soldiers in and around the position. Grenade and artillery blasts blew him off his feet 3 times on his journey but couldn't stop him. Legend told that he killed the last few enemies in the hole with an entrenching tool after his carbine ran out of ammo. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ “I just knew I was going to die. I knew it. I accepted it," he remembered years later. "All I wanted to do was take as many of them with me as I could.”