On April 1, 1970, Gary B. Beikirch was serving as a sergeant with Company B, 5th SFG, 1st Special Forces when the their camp (Dak Seang) was attacked by a numerically superior North Vietnamese force. While his Montagnard assistants treated the wounded, Beikirch fought back with a 4.2 inch mortar and, after that weapon was disabled by hostile fire, a machine gun.
Learning that a fellow American soldier was wounded and lying in an exposed position, he ran through heavy fire to rescue the man. He was hit by shrapnel in the process, including one fragment which struck near his spine and partially paralyzed him. For the remainder of the battle he had his Montagnard assistants carry him from one position to another as he treated the injured. He was wounded in the side while giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a Montagnard fighter and was then shot in the stomach.
Despite this, he continued to provide medical care and fire his weapon from his stretcher until losing consciousness. He was evacuated by helicopter and spent six months recovering at Valley Forge Medical Center. He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1973.
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.
On September 22, 2012, The Second Battalion of the Fifth Special Forces Group (Airborne) dedicated the new Battalion Operations Complex. The complex, formerly called "The Legion" was named Beikirch Hall in tribute to the former member of the unit. #zerofucks #nofucks #stayzero #badass #hero #zerfoxtrot #army