Lance Corporal Ned Seath

 

Lance Corporal Ned Seath rebuilt a machine gun from two partially destroyed ones...in the dark, under fire, while being wounded by a mortar...then mowed down so many enemy he couldn't see over the pile of bodies...

As the enemy massed an assault, Seath's M60 went down. He heard the gun of the team adjacent to his get hit and go down too. Seath grabbed his damaged gun and sprinted through fire to the other team's position.

 

 As others held off the enemy with rifles and grenade launchers, Seath disassembled both guns on a poncho. With no light other than muzzle flashes and a flickering flare somewhere overhead, Seath miraculously made one working gun out of two. A mortar exploded nearby as he worked, peppering him with shrapnel. He ignored the raging battle and his wounds to get one operational M60 back in the fight.

 

Once finished, Seath lay prone behind the gun and opened fire at the massed, advancing enemy merely 40 feet away. He cut down so many, so quickly that they piled high in front of him, blocking his view of more advancing waves. Seath stood up, in full view of the enemy, shouldered the M60, and continued firing. He made quick work of the remaining soldiers and stopped the attack.

Seath survived the night and the remainder of his tour. He went unrecognized for his actions for 45 years. In 2011, Seath was awarded the Navy Cross.

"...serving as a Machine Gun Team Leader with Company K, Third Battalion, Fourth Marines, on 16 July 1966. Shortly after landing, the Company encountered a reinforced enemy platoon in a well-organized, defensive position.

 

 In a portion of the perimeter adjacent to LCpl Seath, a machine gunner was wounded and his weapon disabled by enemy fire. Recognizing the importance of stopping the enemy, LCpl Seath moved quickly through withering automatic weapons fire to extract the inoperative machine gun. Working in pitch darkness with only the occasional flickering illumination from aircraft dropped flares and suffering a leg and hand wound from mortar fire, LCpl Seath expertly crafted an operational M-60 from the pieces of two disabled weapons. Immediately and with devastating effects, he directed fire at the onrushing enemy.

 

Heedless of his painful wounds, as his field of fire in the prone position became partially obscured by enemy casualties, LCpl Seath stood up fully exposed to the enemy as he continued the withering fire ultimately repelling the enemy's assault."

 

Read more of Ned Seath’s story, in his own words here:
https://www.historynet.com/my-war-ned-e-seath.htm