It was a few weeks into a months-long operation in Vietnam’s A Shau Valley on Feb. 13, 1969, when Marine Corps Cpl. Daniel “Duke” Heller stepped off on patrol to find the elusive North Vietnamese soldiers who permeated this area of South Vietnam near its border with Laos.
That day, three squads of Marines with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, known as “The Walking Dead,” cut through tall grass that surrounded them and obscured their view.
Suddenly, enemy rifles, machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades burst through the air.
They’d walked into an ambush.
Another squad leader yelled at Heller to take his squad and flank the enemy position.
The team’s German Shepherd working dog was killed, and its handler, the squad point man, took a bullet in the leg.
Heller, 21, threw the man on his shoulders and began hauling him up a hill as an enemy machine gun opened fire.
He returned to the fight, clearing one of his fellow Marines’ jammed M60 machine gun. He then came upon a second wounded comrade and began carrying him up the hill.
As he carried the Marine to medical attention, an RPG struck the hillside, spraying shrapnel into his face and shoulder.
Over the course of the harrowing gun battle, Heller would save four Marines, lead his squad in outflanking the enemy, kill multiple North Vietnamese soldiers and send the attackers fleeing.
For all this, later in the deployment, he received the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with a combat “V” device, noting it was for valor.
But it was not until Wednesday, more than half a century later, at the Marine Corps Barracks, Washington D.C., that Heller’s actions were fully and finally honored.
“It’s not often we get the opportunity to correct an oversight that’s nearly 60 years old,” Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith said during the ceremony. “This is not just about correcting the record. It is about ensuring that the legacy of Marines like Cpl. Heller is honored in the way it should be.”
Smith called Heller’s trips to save his comrades a “journey through hell.”
“Just think about that, think about that hell raining down on you, machine guns, mortars, automatic rifles and RPGs,” Smith said.
The top Marine then pinned a Navy Cross, the nation’s second-highest award for combat valor, on Heller’s shirt collar. Since its creation during World War I, more than 5,400 individuals have received the award, according to Military Times archives.
Smith recounted the rest of the ambush and how Heller’s actions changed history for a few squads of Marines.
Bloodied by RPG shrapnel, Heller waved off the company corpsman. Heller said he was fine and went back down the hill.
He pulled two more wounded Marines to safety before rushing back into the fight. As his remaining squad members advanced, he came face-to-face with four North Vietnamese soldiers and killed all four. He later recalled shooting at nine, hitting six and seeing three flee.
The three squads managed to beat back the North Vietnamese ambush, sending enemy soldiers fleeing.
That episode was only three weeks into Operation Dewey Canyon, which lasted from late January to mid-March 1969. An estimated 130 9th Marine Regiment Marines were killed and another 920 wounded during the operation.
Over an 18-month deployment to Vietnam, Heller’s squad would survive eight ambushes. He would be wounded three times but only received two Purple Hearts, because on one occasion he was wounded twice within 24 hours.
“When the corpsman put it in, they said ‘one per day,’” Heller said.
At Wednesday’s ceremony, broadcast by the Marine Corps on Facebook, Heller wore a black-and-gold Purple Heart combat veteran ballcap as he received the Navy Cross.
He first thanked his platoon commander and his since-deceased platoon sergeant for their efforts to see that he received the award 55 years later.
“That day I didn’t do it for a Navy Cross,” Heller said as he choked back tears. “Hell, I never even heard of a Navy Cross.”
He thanked his family for making the trip from Ohio for the ceremony.
“It’s been a long, winding road here but here I am,” he said, spreading his arms wide. “Amazing.”
The 76-year-old then concluded his brief remarks.
“I just want to say Semper Fi,” he said, rendering a salute. “And how ‘bout them Jarheads.”
Editor’s note: Details of the combat actions and Vietnam tour of Cpl. Daniel Heller were gathered from remarks made during his award ceremony, the Navy Cross award citation and an interview he gave to Ohio local TV news outlet WCPO Channel 9 an ABC affiliate.
Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.
