![\"Captain](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/33WULKFCRFHVJNS5ABAPYWWBM4.jpeg\")
Captain Ray has been awarded the Silver Star, but ask him about the honor, and he\u2019ll tell you it doesn\u2019t belong solely to him.(LIVE 5 NEWS)<\/p>\nCHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) \u2014 Capt. Lloyd Ray, Company D, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry, a United States Army Vietnam War veteran, was awarded a Silver Star Medal, our military\u2019s third-highest combat decoration, awarded for heroism and exceptional gallantry in action against an enemy. <\/p>\n
For Ray, recognition for service comes decades later, but his heroism speaks volumes. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were one of the last, very last combat units in Vietnam. And we literally lived in the jungle. We carried all of our supplies and ammunition, water, food,\u201d Ray said.<\/p>\n
On Nov. 18, 1971, Ray was leading Company D in Vietnam when everything changed. <\/p>\n
\u201cAlpha Company started getting some fire where they were operating. And we were alerted to get ready,\u201d Ray said <\/p>\n
Moving constantly and facing an enemy they couldn\u2019t always see. <\/p>\n
\u201cPitch black dark by then. You could not see your hand in front of your face,\u201d Ray said. <\/p>\n
Ray says they tried to link up with Alpha Company, but what followed was an ambush of enemy fire. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe noise and then machine gun fire and everybody went down. You had to go down, and we went flat down. We had no real cover. You just had to lay flat,\u201d Ray said. <\/p>\n
With his men pinned down and nearly out of ammunition, Ray called in artillery.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were getting shrapmetal over our head, friendly fire, but we had to do it because they were so close and they had so much firepower we couldn\u2019t overcome it otherwise,\u201d Ray said. <\/p>\n
From evacuating the wounded to holding their ground, they were not defeated. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe adrenaline pumps, and you basically do what you were trained to do,\u201d Ray said. <\/p>\n
For those actions, Ray has been awarded the Silver Star, but ask him about the honor, and he\u2019ll tell you it doesn\u2019t belong solely to him. <\/p>\n
Captain Ray has been awarded the Silver Star, but ask him about the honor, and he\u2019ll tell you it doesn\u2019t belong solely to him.(LIVE 5 NEWS)<\/p>\n
\u201cI was only one man. We had 119 that deserved this,\u201d Ray said. <\/p>\n
And to those men, his fellow brothers, he has a simple message. <\/p>\n
\u201cThank you for doing your job because it allowed me to do my job,\u201d Ray said. <\/p>\n
Ray was awarded the Silver Star at The Citadel, and now this honor of service will be encapsulated forever, not only for Ray but for all who served and fought for our freedom. <\/p>\n
\u201cStays with you. And that\u2019s a good thing,\u201d Ray said. <\/p>\n
Sunday is Vietnam Veterans Day, a time to honor those who answered the call to serve. <\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WCSC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) \u2014 Capt. Lloyd Ray, Company D, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry, a United States Army Vietnam…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,1126,243479,3,243478,21,19,22,20,25,24,24797,40348],"class_list":["post-545740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-award","tag-medal","tag-news","tag-silver-star","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-veteran","tag-vietnam-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}