@sneakypete
Absolutely correct. The problem is that it is extremely difficult to identify ahead of time who those guys are until the bullets do start flying. Some guys fall apart, most to well enough...but then you have that few who seemingly are born to it. You try to get it right, but it is amazing how much some guys will surprise you.
At OCS in Quantico, the main chow hall is Bobo Hall - named for a 2nd Lt. who was awarded the MoH posthumously in Vietnam. Thing is, the guy apparently was someone who was considered awkward, introverted, and not well suited to the infantry. Other candidates mocked him, etc., and even his instructors questioned whether he should graduate. Heard all that verbatim from a colonel who had been assigned to OCS as a captain at the time. Here is his citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Weapons Platoon Commander, Company I, Third Battalion, Ninth Marines, Third Marine Division, in Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam, on 30 March 1967. Company I was establishing night ambush sites when the command group was attacked by a reinforced North Vietnamese company supported by heavy automatic weapons and mortar fire. Lieutenant BOBO immediately organized a hasty defense and moved from position to position encouraging the outnumbered Marines despite the murderous enemy fire. Recovering a rocket launcher from among the friendly casualties, he organized a new launcher team and directed its fire into the enemy machine gun position. When an exploding enemy mortar round severed Lieutenant Bobo's right leg below the knee, he refused to be evacuated and insisted upon being placed in a firing position to cover the movement of the command group to a better location. With a web belt around his leg serving as tourniquet and with his leg jammed into the dirt to curtail the bleeding, he remained in this position and delivered devastating fire into the ranks of the enemy attempting to overrun the Marines. Lieutenant BOBO was mortally wounded while firing his weapon into the main point of the enemy attack but his valiant spirit inspired his men to heroic efforts, and his tenacious stand enabled the command group to gain a protective position where it repulsed the enemy onslaught. Lieutenant BOBO's superb leadership, dauntless courage, and bold initiative reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
So, because we can measure that kind of thing imperfectly at best, we go off the important standards that we can measure, including the necessary level of fitness
@Maj. Bill Martin I have served with,or under,several MoH winners,and it seems like their personalities run the full spectrum from introvert/troubled loner,to "life of the party" guys. Two stand out as genuine nice,quiet,respectful guys you would ever dream of being capable of doing the things they did. Roy Benavidez,and Ola Mize.
BTW,a shout out to the Yaqui Indian tribe in honor of Roy!
Roy was a SFC/E-7 when I first met him,and that was on some sort of forgotten field training exercise. Quiet,unassuming,and willing to be a friend to anyone,including a young E-4 with a hangover. I served with him a couple of times,and never once even heard him raise his voice. Seemed like he was always smiling and looking happy any time I ran into him.
Yet this same man took it upon himself to grab a medics bag and jump on a rescue helicopter armed only with a Bowie knife,and fly into Cambodia to try to provide medical care to a 27 man Hatchet Force platoon that was surrounded by hundreds of NVA,and taking heavy causalities. They had inserted into a NVA Battalion headquarters rear area that had reinforced MG bunkers and Soviet AA guns. The fire was so intense the helicopter couldn't get close,so Roy told them to let him out in the nearest cleaning they could find,and he would continue on foot from there. Alone,and only armed with a Bowie Knife. You sometimes hear jokes about going to a gunfight while armed only with a knife,but you never hear about going into a gunfight against literally hundreds of infantry soldiers armed with full-auto assault rifles while being armed with only a knife. IIRC,they landed maybe 100 yards away,and Roy Proceeded on alone and on foot,but showed up with his first wound of the day, and armed with an AK-47.
By the time that day was over,Roy was the last man to leave on the last helicopter,had been wounded several times,and could barely walk. In fact,a door gunner had to jump out of the slick to help him get aboard. The last NVA killed on that LZ was killed by Roy with his Bowie knife,and when the helicopter pulled off the door gunner could see him laying there near where the tail of the slick had been,with the knife sticking up out of his chest. He had attacked Roy with his bayonet fixed,and IIRC,got him in the shoulder with it.
When they got to the closest hospital,the doc thought he was dead. He had lost so much blood and was so weak he couldn't even talk,but he could hear. When he heard the doc that was listening to his heart say he was dead and to "bag him",Roy spit in his face to let him know he wasn't dead. All total,I think he was wounded on 7 separate occasions that day.
BTW,Roy was not only NOT a SF medic,he wasn't even on a team or a platoon. He was around 40,had broken his back on a parachute jump a couple of years earlier and still recovering from that,and had already served a couple of combat tours in VN,so they had him doing some sort of staff job at the FOB. He didn't even volunteer to do it. He just heard the radio cry for help,and ran straight to the slick after stopping by the dispensary to grab a medic's bag.
The other guy was Ola Mize. He was without a doubt in my mind the kindest and most gentle sounding and appearing man I had ever met. He was a LTC,and my company commander when I first met him on Okinawa. Appearances can be deceiving,since he was also one of those 19 year old infantry Master Sergeants in the Korean War. Ola was leading a platoon on outpost position set there to warn the main element of any NK attack. They did attack that night,and before the night was over every man in that platoon was either dead or wounded,including Ola. He spent the night putting the most seriously wounded into sleeping bags so they wouldn't freeze,and checking on them during lulls in the fighting. When he wasn't doing that,he was moving from position to position to fire on the NK to try to convince them the force on the hilltop was bigger and more able than it was. He had some wounded who were able to sit or lay and fire,but weren't able to move around ,that helped this illusion.
Just before dawn he ran out of ammunition and had to make a decision to either stay with his wounded and try to keep them alive because he KNEW the NK weren't going to give them any medical treatment,or to try to E&E off the hilltop before sunrise. He decided to stay and surrender so he could give aid to his wounded.
He was standing with his arms raised in surrender when the NK's came on the hilltop,and that was when they made their mistake. They started bayoneting the wounded in their sleeping bags,and that's what popped his cork. He picked up an entrenching tool,and commenced crushing NK heads with it. He was so aggressive they ran off the hill to get away from him.
When the relief force got to the top of the hill shortly after sunrise,the company commander didn't even recognize him due to all the blood,gunsmoke,and mud he was covered with.
Ola and Roy are dead now. IIRC,they died a few years ago. Neither will ever be forgotten,though.
If you had met either of these men,either before or after they were awarded a MoH,you would never have guessed that either would harm a fly. I have a hard time remembering a time I saw either that they weren't smiling and looking happy. Not even the time LTC Mize caught a certain drunken E-4 in the officers club trying to pick up on officers wives. He even showed up at the table with a free drink and told the idiot to "enjoy your last drink of the night". He was smiling when he said it,too.