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Rodney Maxwell Davis
Rank and Organization:
Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th
Marines, 1st Marine Division.
Place and Date: Quang Nam
Province, Republic of Vietnam, 6 September 1967.
Entered Service At: Macon, Ga. Born: 7 April 1942, Macon, Ga.
Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of
his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as the
right guide of the 2d Platoon, Company B, in action against
enemy forces. Elements of the 2d Platoon were pinned down
by a numerically superior force of attacking North Vietnamese
Army Regulars. Remnants of the platoon were located in a
trench line where Sgt. Davis was directing the fire of his men in
an attempt to repel the enemy attack. Disregarding the enemy
hand grenades and high volume of small arms and mortar fire,
Sgt. Davis moved from man to man shouting words of
encouragement to each of them while firing and throwing
grenades at the onrushing enemy. When an enemy grenade
landed in the trench in the midst of his men, Sgt. Davis, realizing
the gravity of the situation, and in a final valiant act of complete
self-sacrifice, instantly threw himself upon the grenade,
absorbing with his body the full and terrific force of the
explosion. Through his extraordinary initiative and inspiring
valor in the face of almost certain death, Sgt. Davis saved his
comrades from injury and possible loss of life, enabled his
platoon to hold its vital position, and upheld the highest
traditions of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service. He
gallantly gave his life for his country.
Source: Department
of Defense.
Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy.
Black Americans in Defense of Our Nation.
Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1985.
USS Rodney M. Davis, an Oliver Hazard Perry class guided-missle frigate built at
San Pedro, California, was commissioned in May 1987. The next year, following shakedown, she
was sent to Japan to join the Seventh Fleet. Operating out of her homeport of Yokosuka, she
has subsequently served in the Western Pacific and made several deployments to the Persian Gulf
area. In May 1989, she was one of three Seventh Fleet ships to visit at Shanghai, China, the
first U.S. Navy port call at a mainland Chinese port in over forty years.
USS Rodney M. Davis is named in honor of Sergent Rodney Maxwell Davis (1942-1967), USMC,
who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Vietnam War.
Source: U.S. Navy. (1999) USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG-60), 1987-___. Retrieved August 13, 2002
from the World Wide Web: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-r/ffg60.htm
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Schanche Jr., Don. (November 13, 2005). "The New Tubman: Work on Museum's New Location
Progressing Behind the Scenes." Macon Telegraph. Retrieved November 14, 2005
from the World Wide Web: http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/
13154254.htm.
 
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