BY STEVE KEMME and BERNIE MIXON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
More than 29 years after heroically rescuing an ambushed squad of his fellow Marines in Vietnam, Hamilton resident Benjamin A. Drake was awarded the Silver Star Wednesday.
With four relatives and 12 Marines looking on, Mr. Drake proudly received his long-overdue medal at the Marine recruiting headquarters in Sharonville from Maj. Gen. Dennis M. McCarthy, deputy director of operations for the U.S. Atlantic Command.
"Individually, it's really important and exciting, but in context, we had other Marines die and were seriously wounded that night," Mr. Drake said after the ceremony. "It's a group reward, not an individual reward."
Mr. Drake was a Marine corporal in Vietnam when he volunteered on March 4, 1969, to lead a unit to help another squad whose leader had been killed.
Mr. Drake's undermanned unit fought through enemy gunfire and grenades to get to the squad. Although he was seriously wounded by grenade fragments, Mr. Drake helped repel the attack. His actions enabled a medical evacuation helicopter to come in and to remove the wounded.
He refused to leave with the other wounded soldiers and stayed until the next day to complete the squad's mission.
"Through his extraordinary initiative, leadership and inspiring valor in the face of superior enemy forces, Corp. Drake was personally responsible for undoubtedly saving the lives of the other members of the ambushed squad," read the citation that accompanied the Silver Star.
Soon after the dramatic rescue, Mr. Drake's superior officer, Col. William H. White, recommended him for a Silver Star -- the military's third-highest honor.
But because of "an administrative error," the medal was never awarded, said Staff Sgt. Keith Desbois, who handles marketing and public affairs at the Marines' Sharonville recruiting office. At a reunion of Mr. Drake's platoon last year, the now-retired Col. White found out the Silver Star never was awarded. Col. White resubmitted the papers for the Silver Star, and it was approved. Mr. Drake, 48, is a father of 10 and a missionary for Lighthouse Baptist Church. He left the Marines in 1977.
"It's fantastic," Sgt. Desbois said. "Reading what he did in battle is pure inspiration."
But Mr. Drake is uncomfortable in his role of war hero.
"That very day, we sat in the sand sharing letters and eating food together," Mr. Drake said. "It's not heroic. It's what we were trained to do."
