WASHINGTON — Bill Johnson, a former Ohio congressman and now president of Youngstown State University, made a point Friday to say a few words to Kenneth David and shake the former soldier’s hand before he received the Medal of Honor.

“I was so glad to hear you got it,” he told David at the White House ceremony.

David was one of seven soldiers on Friday who served in the wars in Vietnam and Korea to receive the nation’s highest military award for valor in combat from President Joe Biden. But David, who served in Vietnam, was the only man present for the ceremony. The other awards were presented posthumously. Four men had died in combat and two died after their military service.

“Ken, I want to say to you what I wish I could say to every man we’re honoring today. You’re a hero, a genuine hero,” said Biden, who presented such an honor for the final time in his administration. “Flat-out, straight-up American hero, and we owe you.”

David, now 74, joined the Army in August 1969 after being drafted. He graduated from Girard High School in Ohio and had been working for a year.

“Being I was brought up proper, I went in the Army and fulfilled my commitment to our country. That’s what I believed in,” he told reporters ahead of the ceremony.

Then-Pfc. David distinguished himself on May 7, 1970, in the Thua Thien Province. He served as a radio-telephone operator with Company D, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, near Fire Support Base Maureen.

“We got overrun,” he said. “[It] was pitch black at night. Explosions started going off, and we got overrun by sappers. And behind the sappers were [North Vietnamese troops].”

The enemy’s initial assault mortally wounded the company’s platoon leader. David’s lieutenant was killed instantly, Biden said. Then David was also hit in the back with shrapnel.

“But he couldn’t and wouldn’t give up,” the president added.

Without hesitation, David handed his radio to his platoon sergeant and moved forward to the defensive perimeter, unleashing automatic weapons fire on the enemy troops.

David, from his position, beat back enemy efforts to overrun him. Realizing the impact of the enemy assault on the wounded, who were being moved to the center of the defensive perimeter that the U.S. troops had established, David moved to a position outside of the perimeter while continuing to engage the enemy.

Each time the enemy attempted to concentrate its fire on wounded Americans inside the perimeter, David jumped from his position and yelled to draw enemy fire away from injured troops. Refusing to withdraw in the face of the concentrated enemy fire now directed toward him, he continued to engage the enemy.

Though wounded by an exploding satchel charge and running low on ammunition, he tossed hand grenades toward the attackers to counter their fire. The unit’s medic, realizing David had been injured, moved to his position to provide medical aid. David told the medic that he was OK and continued to fight on.

“The adrenaline was so high in me that I had no idea … but I was able to save seven [other troops],” he said. “So, between the effort of Greg and myself, we did our duty.”

David credited his buddy, Spc. Gregory Phillips, for his efforts during the fight. Phillips received the Silver Star for his actions. David initially received the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroics that day.

Another soldier who fought in Vietnam also received the Medal of Honor on Friday — Capt. Hugh Nelson Jr.

His daughter, Debbie McKnight, recounted recently how she didn’t want her father to go to Vietnam.

“As a 5-year-old, I remember him lifting me up in my grandparents’ house. And I told him not to go because I was never going to see him again,” she said.

Six months later, Army officials drove up to the Nelsons’ house to inform them that Hugh was killed in action. He was 28. It happened the day before her little brother, Hugh Nelson III, turned 1 years old.

McKnight and her family know the sacrifice her father made. The country now knows it too as Nelson posthumously received the highest military honor for heroism in battle.

Nelson was raised in Rocky Mount and Durham, N.C. McKnight said her father was in JROTC in high school before graduating from The Citadel in South Carolina in 1959.

On June 5, 1966, near Moc Hoa, Nelson was the acting aircraft commander of a Huey helicopter with the 114th Aviation Company on a search-and-destroy reconnaissance mission when the aircraft was struck by a barrage of enemy fire that rendered it uncontrollable.

McKnight’s brother, “Tripp” as the family refers to him, said his father was flying the helicopter with three other crew members. Tripp Nelson said reports on the fight concluded the aircraft hit the ground at 100 miles per hour.

The crash left the four-man crew unconscious in the helicopter. Nelson was the first to wake up and moved to the other side of the aircraft where he found his dazed and wounded crew chief still trapped inside the Huey. After getting him out of the aircraft, Nelson climbed into the severely damaged helicopter to assist the door gunner, who was still strapped inside and unable to move.

While Nelson tried to free his comrade, North Vietnamese troops attacked the downed helicopter, firing automatic rifles and small arms from about 30 feet away. The heavy enemy fire wounded Nelson but he continued his efforts to free the trapped door gunner. After freeing the soldier from the Huey, Nelson used his body as a shield to cover the door gunner from the intense enemy fire.

“I’ve read everywhere that he took between six and, I believe, 20 rounds,” Tripp Nelson said. “He passed away during that time. The other three crew members lived and luckily were evacuated fairly quickly.”

McKnight said the family was returning home from getting haircuts when they pulled up to the house and saw two men waiting for them. After the men left, McKnight went in the house and saw her mother crying.

“She looked at me and she said that my daddy was gone and he was never coming back,” McKnight said. “He was just brought up as a good Christian and a good soldier, and all he would have thought about was doing the right thing. He told us, and our mother, that the one thing that he had to do was he had to fight for freedom so that everyone had the right to live their lives the way they wanted.”

Nelson had initially received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second highest military decoration, for his actions and sacrifice.

The Medal of Honor process can take years before a service member receives the award.

Herm Breuer, an Army veteran and a veterans service officer in Trumbull County, examined David’s records and felt the Medal of Honor was justified. David said Breuer devoted 17 years to work on a recommendation packet for him.

“Mr. Herm Breuer never gave up on me and that’s why I’m here today, and I thank him for that,” David said.

Tripp Nelson and McKnight said Ted Curtis was working in the archives of The Citadel and discovered their father’s story. Curtis, also a graduate of The Citadel, got other graduates involved after reading the story. They investigated the history and submitted their review five or six years ago. Then-Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., kept McKnight updated on the process. It took three years for the Army Review Board to look at the information.

“When Ted was putting the package together, he was able to contact former members of my father’s unit who have actually since passed away,” McKnight said. “I witnessed reports from them about what had happened. Tripp and I had gotten portions of the story, but we never knew the whole story until after Ted did all of this research. We’re just so grateful that he never gave up and would just call or periodically email and just say, ‘Hey, it’s going to happen.’”

McKnight said she remembers the day that Biden called. The phone call lasted two minutes and 16 seconds. She was sitting down because her knees were shaking.

After the president recapped Nelson’s actions and he would present the family with the Medal of Honor posthumously, Biden commented her father was a very handsome man.

“I was like, ‘Yes, my mother thought so too,’ ” McKnight said. “And that was when the conversation ended. I’m not sure if I should have said that to him, but it always kind of makes me smile and giggle when I think about having said that to the president.”

Tripp said despite not knowing his father, he has several of his possessions. He has his uniforms and parachute. He also has his father’s wallet.

In Nelson’s wallet, there was a picture of his wife and a vaccination card. There were three or four documents related to code of conduct and what to do if you were captured by the Vietnamese. His father also had a prayer in his wallet.

“It was filled with documents he was keeping with him, I guess, to remind him what good conduct was. I don’t think he needed to remind himself,” Tripp said. “You can tell a lot about a person. He felt he was in the right place where he belonged, and that was in the war, fighting for our country.”

McKnight accepted the award on her father’s behalf. She and the president held hands as the Medal of Honor citation was read. It appeared McKnight held back tears.

As Biden handed the framed medal to her, McKnight said, “Thank you and God bless.”

David was the last to receive the award among the group. He stood in a military uniform next to Biden as his citation was read. The snapping of photos being taken could be heard as members of the audience captured the moment. David stayed on the stage for a little while after the president placed the medal on him. The crowd applauded him. Some people stood up during the celebration, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

“It’s the greatest honor of my life. To be entrusted with the greatest fighting force in the history of the world ... and to learn these stories of Americans,” Biden said.

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