Medal of Honor: High on Marijuana Peter Lemon
Peter Lemon, Cannabis and the Medal of Valor
Peter Lemon was born in Toronto, Canada, and immigrated to the United States at the age of two. He joined the U.S. Army in 1968, at a time when American opposition to the Vietnam War was at its height, and many young American men fled across the border into Canada to avoid military service.
But not for him. At 20, Peter believed the war was necessary to stem the spread of communism. Lemon was drafted and ready to go to Vietnam in 1969.
He arrived in Vietnam in July of that year, with a shattered faith that drove him to enlist as he witnessed the brutality of war, the locals' disdain for American and Allied soldiers who killed surrendering enemy soldiers, leading Peter and some of his fellow soldiers to resort to drugs and alcohol to forget their misfortunes. In April 1970, he was stationed at Illingworth Fire Support Base in Tay Ninh Province, near the South Vietnamese border with Cambodia. His mission was to provide artillery support to the area's operations.
Illingworth was a hastily constructed fire support base in Tay Ninh Province, about 8 km from the Cambodian border. The base was surrounded by open land, the only defenses being dug-out curets and claymore bombs. There was no concrete or barbed wire. The base was manned by 215 men from the 1st Cavalry Division, with four field artillery pieces, supplemented by twin 40 mm Dusters and a .50 caliber M45 Quadmount anti-aircraft gun, before a 203 mm self-propelled howitzer (M110 howitzer) was added later.
The location of Illingworth was right in the middle of a supply route for North Vietnamese soldiers, meaning Peter and his fellow soldiers were a target for the North Vietnamese to eliminate. Many veterans called the base “the decoy.”
March 31, 1969 Peter and his team went out to patrol the area before returning to the base that night and he wanted to rest. But the North Vietnamese soldiers didn't think so. The ground surveillance radar of the Northern Command detected a large enemy force heading towards the Illingworth base. Everyone at the base was ordered to be ready, including Peter and his team. Everyone knew that the enemy was out there waiting to attack. But no one knew when the attack would start. But for sure, Peter had to sleep. And he smoked marijuana before going to bed. However, Peter didn't sleep even for a second. Until around 2 a.m., the effects of the marijuana began to take effect. And it was time for the North Vietnamese soldiers to attack.
North Vietnamese troops opened fire on Illingworth with over 300 rounds of mortars, rockets and recoilless ammunition for 20 minutes, the entire base was bombarded with all sorts of long-range ammunition. The fire control center was immediately destroyed along with three radio operators. After that, 400 North Vietnamese soldiers from the 272nd Battalion, 9th Division, People's Army of North Vietnam began their assault. The North Vietnamese goal was to destroy the base completely.
“This was the only time I ever had to fight while high on marijuana,” he later said. “It gave me a super high.”
As the North Vietnamese attacked, Peter jumped and grabbed a .50 machine gun and began to fire at the North Vietnamese soldiers. As the base was surrounded by mortars and rockets, Peter fired until the .50 machine gun jammed. He dropped the machine gun and picked up an M16, which continued to fire until it jammed from the dust. He then began throwing hand grenades at the North Vietnamese soldiers until they were all detonated. Peter began to use his bare hands to deal with the remaining Vietnamese soldiers before the 203 mm artillery shell storage in the center of the base exploded violently. The force of the explosion left Peter sitting in confusion in the middle of the Vietnamese forest for a while before he got up. Although still high on marijuana, Peter was able to take the wounded comrades to the medical unit and went back out to fight. He began throwing more grenades and began to use his bare hands to fight the enemy before finding a machine gun that was still usable. He used this machine gun to shoot himself until he passed out from blood loss. Peter woke up in the infirmary. He refused treatment and was sent back because he thought someone else needed it more than him.
For his heroism, he was one of the few Canadian-born Americans to receive the Medal of Honor, the highest honor bestowed upon him by President Richard Nixon himself. But Peter, who was now one of the most vocal opponents of the Vietnam War, chose not to wear the medal or talk about the past until recently, when he wore it in a speech honoring his comrades from the Illingworth base who never got to return home.
In the North Vietnamese attack on Illingworth, 24 American soldiers were killed, 54 were wounded, and 88 North Vietnamese soldiers were killed.
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Translated and compiled from
https://www.military.com/history/meet-soldier-who-earned-medal-of-honor-after-smoking-joint.html