Sgt. Rodney M. Davis: The Making of a Hero

How Far Would You Go to Honor a Code?

Honor. Courage. Commitment. These are the pillars of United States Marine Corps values.

So why Sgt. Rodney M. Davis lunged atop that enemy grenade at the expense of his own life on Sept. 6, 1967 is the quintessential question that has haunted not only those who stood closest to him at that critical moment, but his own family and friends for over fifty years now.

Why would a young African-American with a beautiful wife and two infant children eagerly awaiting his return home from Vietnam commit such a noble and courageous, yet sacrificial act? And for Marines he barely knew if at all? And for a country that often treated him like a second-class citizen at the time?

                “He was a brave man and a good Marine. My grandfather always told me that if [Davis] had not      jumped on that grenade, every Marine in that trench would have been seriously injured or killed.    My grandfather believed that he would have died that day. My mother would have been an       orphan at the age of one, and I would have never known my grandfather.

                In a time when the United States was ravaged by racial tension, I wonder what kind of bond men     form while fighting a war, for him to have saved the lives of a bunch of white men – including a Texan officer – that he knew for a short period of time?

                [Davis] was a modern-day hero, and the kind of Marine I strive to live up to.”

Steven Brackeen Turunc,

the eldest grandson of Davis’ late platoon commander, John Brackeen.

Turunc graduated from Officer Candidates School in November 2014

and is currently serving on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps.

That Davis was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor at the White House on March, 26, 1969 did little to assuage the heartbreak felt by his grieving family and the many friends he left behind. 

But looking after his own had always been Davis' calling.

This is his story.