OV-10 Pilot Sacrifices Himself to Save Backseater, Leading to Medal of Honor

June 29, 1972

Capt. Steven L. Bennett attempts to assist a friendly ground unit being overrun near Quang Tri, South Vietnam. Bennett strafes the North Vietnamese regulars with his Rockwell OV-10 Bronco but is hit by a SAM. Unable to eject because the parachute of his backseater, a Marine artillery spotter, had been shredded by shrapnel, Bennett ditches the aircraft in the Gulf of Tonkin. The observer escapes, but Bennett is trapped and sinks with the wreckage. Bennett is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

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