Retired Sgt. Maj. Jon R. Cavaiani, a former prisoner of war and recipient of the nation's highest military award, died Tuesday in Stanford, California.
Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani, 70, spent much of his career at Fort Bragg, where he served with the 5th Special Forces Group.
President Gerald Ford awarded him the Medal of Honor in 1974 for actions earlier that decade in Vietnam.
As a platoon leader, Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani was tasked with protecting a remote radio relay site along the demilitarized zone known as Hickory Hill when it came under attack on June 3, 1971, according to his medal citation.
In the midst of an intense barrage of artillery and small-arms fire, Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani helped organize an evacuation of 15 wounded men while also leading efforts to defend the small base as it was overwhelmed by a much larger enemy force.
Disregarding his own safety, "he repeatedly exposed himself to heavy enemy fire in order to move about the camp's perimeter directing the platoon's fire and rallying the platoon in a desperate fight for survival."
When the time came for Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani's platoon to be evacuated, the soldier "unhesitatingly volunteered" to stay behind to help direct helicopters to rescue his team.
The intense enemy fire forced Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani and a small number of other troops to stay behind, pitted against an overwhelming enemy force.
Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani led the final defense of Hickory Hill and then provided cover fire while his remaining soldiers escaped.
Alone, the soldier played dead and avoided capture for 11 days, according to officials. He was captured by North Vietnamese soldiers after trying to signal a U.S. helicopter and spent 661 days in captivity.
"I saw two shadows on the rock and decided discretion was the better part of valor," Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani said at his retirement on Fort Bragg in 1990. The Vietnamese who captured him was a little old man with a rifle who was probably shaking harder than he was, Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani said. But the American was wounded, burned and exhausted and could no longer resist.
Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani was released in March 1973, after spending much of his confinement in a solitary cell.
"I was not the most cooperative of prisoners," he said.
Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani said receiving the Medal of Honor did not make his life as a soldier any easier because it also left a burden to play the part of a model soldier.
"You have to maintain, you know, the image," he said.
Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani's death was announced by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
Officials on Fort Bragg said he had been battling illnesses associated with leukemia for some time.
They said he died with his wife, Barbara, at his side.
Funeral services are pending, according to the society. With Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani's death, there are now 79 Medal of Honor recipients living today.
Lt. Gen. Charles T. Cleveland, commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command, said Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani "exemplified the best in our Green Berets and inspired generations of soldiers."
"A true American hero, Jon made time to teach, coach and mentor Special Forces soldiers of all grades," Lt. Gen. Cleveland said. "He will be missed by all, particularly those of us who since Vietnam served with him, but he and his gallantry will never be forgotten. The inheritors of his legacy, today's Green Beret, will see to that."
Retired in 1990
Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani retired from the Army in 1990 after 21 years of service.
Born in Ireland and raised in England, he moved to the United States in 1953 and joined the Army a year before becoming a naturalized citizen.
He volunteered for Special Forces and later served with Task Force 1 Advisory Element, Studies and Observations Group, an elite reconnaissance unit in Vietnam.
He would later serve as an instructor on Fort Bragg before holding numerous other posts within the Special Forces community while tallying more than 5,000 parachute jumps.
Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani's last Army job was as a chief instructor at the Army ROTC detachment at the University of California, Davis.
He retired during a ceremony on Fort Bragg in which he was hailed as a hero.
At the time, Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani said he would retire to his 294-acre farm in central California, where he would grow peaches.
"I'm just a farm boy," he said at the time.
In 2011, he became a Distinguished Member of the Special Forces Regiment and was honored on Fort Bragg.
In addition to the Medal of Honor and the Prisoner of War Medal, Sgt. Maj. Cavaiani also received the Legion of Valor, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star medal with valor and Purple Heart with oak leaf clusters.
