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A lesson in self-sacrifice

Vietnam veteran teaches students Medal of Honor's true meaning

By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 19, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Medal of Honor recipient and Vietnam veteran, Drew Dix speaks to students at Liberty Middle School Thursday in Aurora, Colo.

Matt McClain © The Rocky

Medal of Honor recipient and Vietnam veteran, Drew Dix speaks to students at Liberty Middle School Thursday in Aurora, Colo.

Medal of Honor recipient and Vietnam War veteran Drew Dix, second from right, talks to Buckley Air Force pilots Lt. Tim Conklin, third from right, and Capt. Chris Melka, far right, at Liberty Middle School in Aurora on Thursday.

Photo by Photos By Matt Mcclain / The Rocky

Medal of Honor recipient and Vietnam War veteran Drew Dix, second from right, talks to Buckley Air Force pilots Lt. Tim Conklin, third from right, and Capt. Chris Melka, far right, at Liberty Middle School in Aurora on Thursday.

Jackie Gronlund, 13, listens as Dix speaks to her eighth-grade social studies class.

Photo by Photos By Matt Mcclain / The Rocky

Jackie Gronlund, 13, listens as Dix speaks to her eighth-grade social studies class.

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The Liberty Middle School students who listened raptly to Drew Dix on Thursday didn't learn why he received the nation's highest award, the Medal of Honor.

During an entire morning at the school, Dix, 63, never mentioned that over a 56-hour period in 1968, he led a squadron that rescued American and Vietnamese civilians from Chau Phu as the Viet Cong tried to overrun the city.

"We all know there are individuals that performed acts far greater than I, and there were no witnesses," the former Army Special Forces officer told students, teachers and parents who filled the gym.

The medal isn't given to soldiers for acts of combat, but for serving others, he said.

"When you go to war, you fight for your country, but when you're on the battlefield, you fight for those on your left and on your right," Dix said.

"And when you go through life, what you remember is to take care of those on your left and on your right."

That simple advice and the absence of bravado with which Dix delivered it was a lesson that resonated with many of the Liberty students.

"I felt like he barely talked about himself, that he talked way more about everyone else than himself, and that's what I think the Medal of Honor is about - that you don't only think about yourself, you think about everyone around you," said Delaynie Sheldon, 12, an eighth-grader, after participating in a classroom discussion with Dix.

Delaynie said she wasn't surprised that Dix didn't spend more time talking about combat.

"War isn't all about fighting," she said. "It's about sacrifice for other people - not killing people and destroying everything, but helping people."

Dix was among more than two dozen Medal of Honor recipients who visited schools Thursday as part of a weeklong tribute to the nation's most honored heroes.

Dix was raised in Pueblo. He retired as a major from the Army, and his jobs since then have included a stint as Alaska's Homeland Security director. He now lives on a ranch in New Mexico.

Adults as well as students leaned in to get a look at the nation's highest honor, hanging from a blue ribbon around Dix's neck. The adults were as eager as the students to get Dix's autograph or have their picture taken with him.

Joel Kapp, 13, an eighth-grader, said he was glad not to hear a lot about combat.

"War isn't necessarily all about fighting," Joel said later. "For some people, it's all about the killing. But for some people, like the Medal of Honor recipients, it's about what you do during that war and the decisions you make, and whether or not they were the right ones, and living with yourself after you've made the decision."

He added, "When you look to the person on your right and you look to the person on your left, you should see value in each and every person you see, just because human life is what we fight for in the first place, even if it means the death of others."

Comments

  • September 19, 2008

    7:16 a.m.

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    Darwin writes:

    Thank you Major Dix for your service to America and for continuing to set a good example to the youth and adults of this country. I salute you.

  • September 19, 2008

    7:22 a.m.

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    Michael writes:

    Great story and a great man - a US Soldier at his very best. This is what we send them across the globe to do. Not just kill and destroy, but to aid, assist, save lives, and fight FOR human life and the freedom to live it. It is difficult to not interject some politics, as I know there will be others following me that will somehow attack the US Military. So let me say that this is the type of soldier that represents MOST of the US Military that has served and is serving. If JFKerry and John Murtha and Richard (RMN blocked me from using his chosen name of D@#k!!) Durbin and Code Pink and Cindy Sheehan and MoveOn and all the other left-wing, lunatic fringe would make an effort to grasp that when they attack the isolated incidents that cast a bad light on our armed forces, they attack men like this and all those that serve today. These soldiers would be better represented and served by the country they fight for if those fringe elements would remember that when they hurl their atacks.

  • September 19, 2008

    7:40 a.m.

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    HoosierGuy writes:

    A fine example to the student and to the rest of us as well.

  • September 19, 2008

    8:39 a.m.

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    Scott writes:

    Men like Major Dix extrude honor. Thank you so much for your service and the service of all of the Medal of Honor winners.

    Scott

  • September 19, 2008

    9:36 a.m.

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    JRF writes:

    Rescued an American nurse as well. Spent over a year along the Ba Sac in the old French hotel as a member of MACV TM 64 in Chau Doc, (Chau Phu). John Kerry and John Murtha aren't worth spit. Good men like Drew are not the exception in this country.
    Jim Ferriman

  • September 19, 2008

    10:13 a.m.

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    theairdog writes:

    McCain would understand.

    Obama wouldn't know.