HILLSBORO, Ohio — In war, not everything goes as planned. Hillsboro resident Jackie Cooper discovered that for himself while in Vietnam. He and his fellow soldiers were sent north of Saigon to take out soldiers of the Viet Cong.
“Was sent out to do a butterfly ambush that night, and in the early mornings of that night, we ended up getting overrun by the Cong,” Cooper said.
In the chaos of the attack, he said he was able to take cover in the bushes of the jungle. Cooper said he could see the Viet Cong soldiers being signaled by a soldier with a flag.
“They was using that flag to direct the other soldiers which way to go. I seen them wave it at the main force and telling them to go off to the left, because that's where the main group of our people was, and they came around the right side to come in behind and try and sabotage and shoot them from behind,” Cooper said.
In a flash, Cooper said he jumped into action when the soldier with the flag stepped next to him.
“I decided that I wasn't going to die underneath that flag,” Cooper said. “I think when I jumped up out of the bushes and surprised them, it shocked them so bad that they didn't know what was going on.”
Cooper said hand-to-hand combat ensued.
“I yanked the flag out of their hand, and as I was falling backwards onto the ground, after they kicked me in the stomach and they butt stroked me in the neck with an AK-47,” he said. “I got all the vertebrates (blown) out on my neck now.”
He said the Viet Cong soldiers appeared to be confused about what to do without the direction signals from the flag. Cooper said it became very clear that his quick thinking and actions had saved his fellow soldiers' lives.
“It probably saved the lieutenant's life, plus my sergeant's life and everybody else,” Cooper said.
A gun battle began, and according to Army records, he and his fellow soldiers were able to neutralize the threat from the enemy force. Some insurgents were captured and interrogated gathering important intelligence.
He received a Bronze Star with a “V” device for his actions that day. However, within the award announcement dated April 24, 1968, there is no mention of him capturing the flag.
Cooper said he was told while in Vietnam that the actions he took leveled to that of a Medal of Honor.
“Said they couldn't promise it, but that's what they would work on. Well ... nothing, never showed up on the papers,” Cooper said. “I still got the flag to prove what I done, they didn't know that. So, I just kept my mouth shut about let it get shipped home.”
There is historical precedence dating back to the Civil War wherein soldiers who captured signal flags, saving U.S. servicemembers' lives were awarded the Medal of Honor.
Cooper keeps the flag secured in an undisclosed place and really hopes he can get word to someone in the Biden administration to find a way to secure it permanently in a museum and share the story behind it — securing both the significance of the flag during the war and highlighting the missions of all soldiers in Vietnam.
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