FReeper Canteen ~ Hall of Heroes: Carlos Lozada ~ 12 July 2021 Posted on
For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.
Carlos James Lozada (September 6, 1946 - November 20, 1967), was a Private First Class in the United States Army and was killed in action in Vietnam. He was one of five Puerto Ricans who were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions. The United States at that time was involved in the Vietnam War and on June 11, 1967, Lozada was sent to Vietnam and assigned to Co. A, 2nd Battalion, 503 Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade. On November 20, 1967, at Dak To in the Republic of Vietnam, PFC Lozada spotted a North Vietnamese Army company rapidly approaching his outpost. He alerted his comrades and opened fire with a machine gun, killing at least twenty of the enemy soldiers and disrupting their initial attack. He realized that if he abandoned his position there would be nothing to hold back the surging North Vietnamese soldiers and that his entire company withdrawal would be jeopardized - as a result he told his comrades to move to the back and that he would supply cover for them. He continued to deliver a heavy and accurate volume of suppressive fire against the enemy until he was mortally wounded and had to be carried out during the withdrawal.