Dwight W. Birdwell

On 27 June 2022 it was announced that President Joe Biden would present the Medal of Honor to Birdwell and three others on 5 July 2022.

Birdwell was presented with the Medal of Honor on 5 July 2022 in a ceremony at the White House.

He was a member of the Judicial Appeals Tribunal (Supreme Court) of the Cherokee Nation from 1987 to 1999, serving as its chief justice from 1995 to 1996 and 1998 to 1999. He is now a practicing attorney in Oklahoma City. For a number of years he served on the Cherokee Nation Judicial Appeals Tribunal.

Birdwell attended Northeastern State University and then the University of Oklahoma College of Law, graduating in 1976.

Birdwell was assigned to Troop C, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 25th Infantry Division. He received his first Silver Star for heroism on 31 January 1968, when his unit raced to defend Tan Son Nhut Air Base, which was under attack during the Tet Offensive. Troop C was the first American ground unit from outside the airbase to respond to the attack. When Birdwell's tank commander was seriously wounded, Birdwell took command and placed intense fire on the attacking People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces until his ammunition was expended. He then retrieved an M60 machine gun and continued firing at the PAVN until the weapon was damaged by PAVN fire, which also wounded Birdwell. With disregard for his own safety, he ran through a hail of PAVN fire to get more ammunition for his men from other damaged vehicles.

On the night of 4 July 1968, he again risked his life to rescue more Americans, some of them wounded, who were stranded in a battle zone in an enemy-occupied village. Seeing a damaged Army personnel carrier, he exposed himself to heavy enemy fire while loading all of the wounded and evacuating them to safety. He then went back into the village to rescue more Americans, for which he was awarded his second Silver Star for bravery.

Birdwell returned to the United States in December 1968.

Dwight W. Birdwell (born 19 January 1948) is a former United States Army soldier who received the Medal of Honor in 2022 for his actions in the Vietnam War in 1968 during the Tet Offensive attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base.

Birdwell was born in Amarillo, Texas, on 19 January 1948. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, he grew up in the small, predominantly Cherokee Indian community of Bell, Oklahoma. He attended Bell Grade School, and graduated from Stilwell High School in 1966.