V
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 3175
To authorize the President to award the Medal of Honor to Thomas H.
Griffin for acts of valor as a member of the Army during the Vietnam
War.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY1, 2025
Mr. P
ANETTAintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Armed Services
A BILL
To authorize the President to award the Medal of Honor
to Thomas H. Griffin for acts of valor as a member
of the Army during the Vietnam War.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. ACTS OF VALOR DESCRIBED. 3
Congress recognizes the following acts of valor by 4
Thomas Helmut Griffin: 5
(1) Thomas Helmut Griffin distinguished him-6
self by valorous actions against overwhelming odds 7
while serving as a captain in the Army, Senior Advi-8
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sor, 4/5 Infantry Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, 1
Army of the Republic of Vietnam. 2
(2) From March 1, 1969 through March 3, 3
1969, during the Vietnam War, such battalion was 4
ordered to forestall an imminent attack on Quang 5
Ngai City threatened by units of the North Viet-6
namese Army (hereinafter, ‘‘NVA’’). The 4/5 Bat-7
talion engaged unabatedly with an entrenched NVA 8
regiment over the course of three days. Captain 9
Griffin (hereinafter, ‘‘CPT Griffin’’) risked his life 10
and disregarded his personal safety, all above and 11
beyond his duty, on some 20 occasions, to lead his 12
battalion in the fight as well as direct gunships, air, 13
and artillery strikes on the enemy positions. 14
(3) During the initial phase of battle, CPT 15
Griffin made numerous trips across 50 meters of 16
open ground, while under heavy automatic weapon, 17
rocket, and small arms fire, to advise on the conduct 18
of the battle and better direct strikes against enemy 19
forces. Fearing slaughter of his soldiers, CPT Grif-20
fin, with one of his counterparts from the Army of 21
the Republic of Vietnam (hereinafter, ‘‘ARVN’’), 22
charged directly into heavy enemy fire and assaulted 23
a machine gun bunker. CPT Griffin continued these 24
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runs, despite the enemy shooting the heels off CPT 1
Griffin’s boots. 2
(4) After taking out the NVA bunker, CPT 3
Griffin brandished the captured machine gun and 4
rocket launcher to exhort his battalion out of the kill 5
zone and continue the assault into the enemy en-6
trenchments while remaining exposed to heavy fire. 7
CPT Griffin’s raw and intense close combat leader-8
ship galvanized his battalion to move out of the kill 9
zone and continue their mission. 10
(5) CPT Griffin’s ARVN counterpart was 11
struck by close fire, and CPT Griffin unhesitatingly 12
carried the wounded commander to safety while 13
shielding him with his own body against rocket and 14
artillery fire. CPT Griffin proceeded to carry four 15
more wounded soldiers to safety while protecting 16
them with his own body, returning each time against 17
devastating enemy fire. While leading the final at-18
tack, CPT Griffin was hit three times in the chest 19
by enemy small arms fire, yet continued to lead at 20
the forefront of his battalion until the mission was 21
completed. Under CPT Griffin’s command and lead-22
ership, the 4/5 Battalion continued to reduce the 23
enemy regiment’s fighting capacity. 24
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(6) CPT Griffin’s personal leadership in intense 1
close combat resulted in a major win for his bat-2
talion against overwhelming odds, killing 93 enemy 3
soldiers and saving the lives of over 300 allied sol-4
diers by galvanizing and leading them out of the kill 5
zone. 6
(7) CPT Griffin’s selfless devotion to duty, his 7
extraordinary heroism, conspicuous gallantry and in-8
trepidity, and numerous risks of his life above and 9
beyond the call of duty, are all in keeping with the 10
highest traditions of the Army, and reflect great 11
credit on himself, the Armed Forces, and the United 12
States. 13
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 14
Congress finds the following with regards to the origi-15
nal decision to award a Silver Star to Thomas Helmut 16
Griffin: 17
(1) When awarding him the Silver Star, CPT 18
Griffin’s chain of command was unaware of the full 19
extent of his valorous actions and the numerous 20
risks he took for his soldiers, all above and beyond 21
the call of duty. 22
(2) Congress notes that although CPT Griffin 23
was struck three times by enemy fire, and at one 24
point was completely surrounded by the enemy, he 25
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continued to fight and lead his battalion against dev-1
astating and overwhelming enemy fire. 2
(3) Congress notes that CPT Griffin’s Com-3
manding Officer, Colonel Dean E. Hutter (ret.), sent 4
a letter to the Department of the Army dated No-5
vember 6, 2013, in which he accounts for the revela-6
tion of additional, substantive and material evidence 7
not known at the time of the decision to award the 8
Silver Star, and in which he describes as compelling 9
‘‘the justice of upgrading CPT Griffin’s sustained 10
and varied acts of combat valor to their rightful level 11
of recognition, the Medal of Honor’’. 12
(4) Congress further notes that Colonel Hutter 13
issued a letter to former United States Representa-14
tive Sam Farr on September 15, 2011, noting his 15
support for an upgrade from a Silver Star to a 16
Medal of Honor, having recognized CPT Griffin’s 17
acts of valor as, ‘‘numerous, selfless demonstrations 18
of personal risk in pressing a close-combat attack 19
against a well-entrenched element of a battalion-size 20
enemy formation’’. 21
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SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF AWARD OF MEDAL OF HONOR 1
TO THOMAS HELMUT GRIFFIN FOR ACTS OF 2
VALOR AS A MEMBER OF THE ARMY DURING 3
THE VIETNAM WAR. 4
(a) A
UTHORIZATION.—Notwithstanding the time lim-5
itations specified in section 7274 of title 10, United States 6
Code, or any other time limitation with respect to the 7
awarding of certain medals to persons who served in the 8
Armed Forces, the President is authorized to award the 9
Medal of Honor, under section 7271 of such title, to 10
Thomas Helmut Griffin for the acts of valor described in 11
subsection (b). 12
(b) A
CTS OFVALORDESCRIBED.—The acts of valor 13
described in this subsection are the actions of Thomas H. 14
Griffin during the period of March 1 through March 3, 15
1969, while serving as a captain in the Army during the 16
Vietnam War, for which he was previously awarded the 17
Silver Star. 18
Æ
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