Vietnam vet to be honored at Independence

Presentation of a Medal of Honor flag to the sons and daughter of Marine Staff Sgt. Karl Gorman Taylor Sr. is planned for noon Saturday at Independence Cemetery.

Taylor died Dec. 8, 1968, during his second tour of duty in the Vietnam War as he rescued more than two dozen comrades.

His Medal of Honor citation commends him for taking his grenade launcher in full view of the enemy and charging across an open rice paddy toward a machine gun position.

"Although wounded several times, he was able to reach the machine gun bunker and silence the fire moments before he was mortally wounded," the citation notes.

Marine Gen. David Papak and a Marine Corps honor guard will preside over the ceremony in the cemetery on Route 844.

President Richard Nixon posthumously presented Taylor's family with the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart and a host of other medals.

This ceremony is one of the first held since the Medal of Honor flag was established by Congress.

Copyright Observer Publishing Co.

8/12/2009