As highly decorated First Class Army sergeant Sammy Lee Davis reached the podium for a visit with the Powell High School junior class, he opened the floor to questions, rather than reciting the eight-page speech he had prepared.
Powell High School teacher Rusty Smith helped to bring the Medal of Honor recipient to the school in hopes that his students could apply Davis’ story to their lives.
As an Army private, his unit fell under heavy fire from the Viet Cong. During the attack, he suffered several gunshot wounds and broke his back. Despite the severity of his injuries, Davis crossed a river in waist-high water to retrieve and save the lives of three fellow soldiers.
“That’s one of the reasons why my country awarded me a Medal of Honor,” he said. “I could have not stood up and done the job I needed to do for my brothers, but I knew in my heart they would do it for me.”
Students asked about his life, military service, recovery from physical injuries, and the medals he earned.
Davis answered with stories from his service during the Vietnam War and about the heroic acts that ultimately earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military medal of valor.
It was this display of courage that inspired some of the film Forrest Gump, in which video of his Medal of Honor ceremony was used with actor Tom Hanks’ head superimposed over Davis’ – ultimately earning him the “Real Forrest Gump” the nickname.
During the hour of Q&A with the living legend, Davis told a story about trying snake meat for the first time after running out of food in the jungle; shared the first song he learned on the harmonica – “Oh Shanondoah,” which is still one of his favorites; and detailed a meeting with former Vietnamese soldiers that took place only a few years ago.
“We sat there for almost an hour, not looking at each other, not talking to the Vietnamese troops,” he recalled. “But after a while, I just wanted them to know that I didn’t hate them. I was just a soldier doing my job. And that’s when they said, ‘I feel the same way.’”
Davis told an inquiring student that despite the horrors he saw, the injuries he sustained, and the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) he still battles to this day, he would do it all again if he needed to.
“Heroes are everyday Americans like us. He doesn’t want all the attention and credit, and to me, that humility goes a long way,” Smith said. “I hope that they could see that some of the qualities and characteristics he has can apply to their own lives.”The biggest lesson for students and community alike? “You don’t lose until you quit trying.”