Milton Lee Olive III (November 7, 1946 – October 22, 1965) was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

soldier and a recipient of America's highest military decoration — the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...

— for his actions in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. At the age of 18, Olive sacrificed his life to save others by

falling on a grenade Falling on a grenade is the deliberate act of using one's body to cover a live time-fused hand grenade, absorbing the explosion and fragmentation in an effort to save the lives of others nearby. Since this is almost universally fatal, it is consi ...

. He was the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

recipient of the Medal of Honor from the Vietnam War.Mohr, 2007.

Biography

Olive joined the Army from his birth city of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois in 1964, and was serving as a Private First Class in Company B of the 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment,

173rd Airborne Brigade The 173rd Airborne Brigade ("Sky Soldiers") is an airborne infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Command's conventional airborne strategic response force for Eu ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

by 1965. On October 22, 1965, while moving through the jungle with four fellow soldiers in Phu Cuong, Olive sacrificed his life by smothering an enemy-thrown grenade with his body. For his actions on that day, he was

posthumous Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death * ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987 * ''Posthumous'' ...

ly awarded the Medal of Honor. At a ceremony on the steps of the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

, on April 21, 1966, President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

presented Olive's Medal of Honor to his father and stepmother. Also in attendance were two of the four men whose lives were saved by Olive's actions. Olive's body was returned to the United States and buried in West Grove Cemetery at Lexington,

Holmes County, Mississippi Holmes County is a county in the U.S. state of Mississippi; its western border is formed by the Yazoo River and the eastern border by the Big Black River. The western part of the county is within the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta. As of the 2010 ce ...

. He was born in Chicago but left as a young boy living in Lexington, Mississippi, where he finished high school.

Tributes

In 1966, a plaque and park was dedicated in his honor. In 1999, the city of Chicago recognized Olive by naming Olive Park on Lake Michigan in his honor.Mohr, 2007. Olive-Harvey College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago, is named after both Olive and fellow Medal of Honor recipient Carmel Bernon Harvey Jr. The Milton L. Olive Middle School in

Wyandanch Wyandanch (, ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Babylon in Suffolk County, New York. The population was 12,990 at the 2020 census. In the past, some or all of Wyandanch was proposed to become part of the never-real ...

, Long Island, New York, is also named in his honor. In 2007, a State Historical Marker was erected for Olive in Lexington, Mississippi. The dedication ceremonies included an address by the Adjutant General of the Mississippi National Guard.

Fort Campbell Fort Campbell is a United States Army installation located astride the Kentucky–Tennessee border between Hopkinsville, Kentucky and Clarksville, Tennessee (post address is located in Kentucky). Fort Campbell is home to the 101st Airborne Divi ...

has a recreation facility named in his honor. In 2012, Fort Benning, GA dedicated a Simulations facility in his honor named Olive Hall (The Maneuver Battle Lab). Honor Field is a one-mile track located in Ft. Polk LA that bears a plaque detailing Olive's heroics. The field is used for everything from changes of command and physical training to tests of physical fortitude in various military competitions. Milton_L

The Downlow Saga, a 2017 novel by Los Angeles author Sheldon McCormick, is dedicated in memory of PFC Olive. Olive's statue, along with Sgt. William Harvey Carney, is seen on the African-American Medal of Honor Recipients Memorial in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

. In the 2020

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

film ''

Da 5 Bloods ''Da 5 Bloods'' is a 2020 American war drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Spike Lee. It stars Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Johnny Trí Nguyễn, Norm Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Mélanie Thierry, Paul Walter Hauser, ...

'', Olive is briefly mentioned during a conversation about portrayals of war in Hollywood, with the character Otis wishing for the portrayals of more black war heroes like Olive.

Medal of Honor citation

Notes

References

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External links