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It happened on the historic grounds of the Nevada Legislature. The honoree stood in front of the veterans memorial, and within eyesight of many other statues and plaques and concrete edifices honoring the men and women who served the Silver State and Carson City. It was there that former Army sergeant Richard “Dick” L. Moyer was presented with a Bronze Star medal with “V” device for his heroic efforts during the Vietnam War.  
 
In fact it was a special day for all the veterans and others who came to honor Moyer and others. Steeped in tradition, the bi-annual Veterans and Military Day at the Legislature is set aside to pay tribute to those who put their lives on the line, and those who did not return. Moyer once placed his life on the line, and returned along with the men he is credited to have helped save. 
 
Moyer was proud and humbled, standing at a podium with Gov. Brian Sandoval, who spoke about him in terms that acknowledged and praised events in his past. He heard Air Force Brig. Gen. William Burks describe the moments when Moyer displayed life-saving actions under fierce combat conditions on behalf of his fellow soldiers. It was all that and more that brought back memories as if it were yesterday. But the past caught up with the present on a March morning as the governor attached the military medal to Moyer’s suit coat, shook his hand, and spoke words of sincere congratulations. The audience stood and applauded, and Moyer’s wife Patti looked on with love and pride in her eyes. To her, Dick Moyer has always been her hero. 
 
Burks, the Adjutant General for the Nevada National Guard, was honored to let the audience know about the service record of Richard L. Moyer. 
 
“It is a great honor to be recognizing a veteran, whose love of country, bravery and selflessness is such that it is awarded with a medal of distinction more than 30 years later,” Burks began. The general described how in November of 1968, Army Specialist Moyer was assigned to protect an area that was coming under attack by a platoon size element of combined Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army regulars. Although he was wounded by a rocket propelled grenade, he exposed his position by helping to remove others in his unit who sustained more serious wounds from enemy fire. Moyer continued to return fire until additional U.S. forces arrived. Seven U.S. soldiers were seriously wounded, but Moyer and two others stayed to provide cover. 
 
Kat Miller, Director of the Nevada Department of Veterans Services, read the exact description from the official proclamation signed by the Secretary of the Army, which in part noted that “Specialist Moyer’s dedication under fire are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service, and reflect great credit upon himself, the 199th Infantry Brigade and the United States Army.” 
 
Moyer took a moment to read a quote from Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl in Germany who during WWII wrote eloquently about life while she hid from enemy soldiers. She was later captured along with her family and sent to a concentration camp where they all perished in 1945. Even in her worst of times, she gave poetic thought to her love of life, unveiling her inner feelings and deep understanding that no matter what a situation, the future need not be negative. Moyer spoke her poignant words: “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” 
 
In an interview after the ceremony, Moyer briefly explained the frenzied events that took place during combat action that earned him the Bronze Star. He began his story when asked how he came to be in the Army. 
 
His time warp began to slowly unfold, and it was a dizzying ride, experiencing the humidity and the monsoons of the past. But it was the warmth of the Nevada sunshine that highlighted the special day for him. 
 
Moyer explained that he had been just another draftee out of Greenville, Pennsylvania, where he worked for Westinghouse Electric. Through basic training and later when he “volunteered,” as he put it, for jump school, he was certain he was headed for Vietnam. In 1968 the war was in full development, and it was only a matter of time before he was headed into the conflict. He was assigned to F Company, 51st Infantry, a long range patrol airborne unit. He was stationed around the demilitarized zone, or DMZ in shorthand. “We were two, six-man teams,” Moyer continued, “But I think we only had 10 men, because we ran out of personnel. 
 
“We set up an observation point, and we got permission to set up an ambush site.” Moyer said his unit was planning to surprise the VC, but it turned out to be just the opposite. “We didn’t want to be surprised!,” he emphasized, but the Americans were in fact about to be overrun by the Vietcong. 
 
Moyer’s unit called back to headquarters and asked to be extracted, but they were told to merely pull back 100 meters and set up for the night. That they did, and Moyer said he and his men could hear the VC talking through the brush all evening. “We knew we were in a bad situation,” he explained. The next morning a team member spotted two VC and put them under fire, killing one and wounding the other. “Immediately we were hit with rocket propelled grenades,” he said. “I was a machine gunner … and all hell was breaking loose. They had heavy automatic weapons, and they were just blasting us down. And I looked over and saw what had happened. These guys were badly wounded … They had us pinned down with machine gun fire. Two of the men were wounded, and I managed to run down and bandage the guys as best I could.” 
 
One of the other machine guns from the unit was out of operation, but Moyer “got that machine gun back in order and got all the dirt and mud out and got it firing again. And I just started laying down a lot of fire, and I’m screaming at ’em. Even the guys who were wounded were getting back and firing. We were all concerned, and I was REALLY concerned that we were going to be defeated. I thought we were gonna be overrun.” 
 
Moyer continued to fire rapidly, but his ammunition was getting sparse. “I was getting low. But in about 20 minutes two gunships flew in and fired up the whole area around us, and finally the VC broke off contact. 
 
“We put six wounded, and piled equipment, on one chopper. The second chopper came back in and got a couple of other guys, and it brought in a reaction force.” He said that the force included two sergeants who were on their last mission. They were short-timers in G.I. vernacular. “They were going home. They were short. But the three of us stayed behind and went with the reaction force and swept through that whole area.” The men viewed what he said were many blood trails left by the VC. But there were no enemies left behind. “They were famous for pulling their bodies away.” 
 
Moyer explained that when all was said and done he was probably the least hurt of all the wounded soldiers. He observed that some of the men were seriously injured, including those he had personally helped. “But we all made it home,” he proudly stated. By all accounts, it was Moyer’s actions that greatly contributed to the men being safely evacuated. 
 
Moyer said that by 1969 the Army was attempting to wind down the fighting. He received an “early out” discharge and was relieved to get back home and find that Westinghouse had kept his job for him. He had left the Army with three Purple Hearts (a fourth is still waiting approval); an Army Commendation with a “V” device for valor and heroism; a Vietnam Service Medal with four bronze service stars; and five other medals. Moyer explained how he was wounded four times, including shrapnel wounds to his left thigh; machine gun wounds “in the middle of my gut”; shrapnel fragments on the left side of his face; and a ricochet from a trip flare that burned his hands. He was grateful to get back to a job that didn’t involve guns. 
 
But in 1981 he was “discharged” a second time when the company he was with closed its doors. Moyer didn’t miss a beat. “I went to airline school and worked for 20 years in the airline industry. I was an operations manager in Ohio and a ramp manager in Chicago,” he said. Those assignments were among other flight positions he held. 
 
The East Coast native has been married for 33 years and his work took the family to many places. But one day while living back in Pennsylvania, the time came when his wife decided it was moving day once again. “She couldn’t take the cold anymore, and we moved to Las Vegas,” Moyer said. 
 
It gets hot in Southern Nevada, but it’s nothing compared to that day in Vietnam.