During dangerous circumstances, Special Forces soldiers serving in the Vietnam War frequently operated behind enemy lines. Sgt. Army Master With his group of Green Berets, Fred William Zabitosky frequently engaged in this. He resisted giving up on the men around him during a helicopter crash in 1968. He received the Medal of Honor for his efforts that day.  , ++
Parents Cora and Fred T. Zabitosky gave birth on October 27, 1942, in a working-class neighborhood in Trenton, New Jersey. Zabitosky’s father abandoned the family when he was 15 years old, making him responsible for his mother, brother, and three sisters. After his junior year, Zabitosky dropped out of high school to provide for his family. He enlisted in the Army in 1959 after realizing at the age of 17 that it might provide better stability and support.  , ++
Zabitosky received basic training before being sent to Germany for three years, where he distinguished himself before returning to civilian life. In 1963, he decided to reenlist, this time to join the Special Forces, after landing a job working in construction but being unsatisfied with it. He joined the 5th Special Forces Group as a Green Beret after extensive training.  , ++
Before being sent to Vietnam in 1964, Zabitosky wed Carrie Mae, his girlfriend. A year later, he visited his wife and Edward, his first child. Zabitosky offered to go back to the war zone and assist in training South Vietnamese soldiers shortly after, but he was eager to get back into the action. Just to volunteer to return to Vietnam for a third tour of duty in 1968, he went back home once more. He received the Medal of Honor for this deployment, which took place at the height of the Tet Offensive.  , ++
The Ho Chi Minh Trail, which frequently required crossing into neighboring Laos and Cambodia on convert missions, was under the supervision of Zabitosky’s team. Zabitosky led a nine-man reconnaissance patrol on February 19, 1968, during one of these expeditions into Laos, when they came across an enormous enemy complex. All hell quickly erupted.  , ++
Zabitosky, according to his Medal of Honor citation, exposed himself to enemy fire in order to gather his allies and position them for retaliation. He gave them the order to move to a landing area for helicopter extraction after realizing how outnumbered they were, while grenades and rifle fire were used to cover their retreat.  ,
Three helicopters finally arrived after his team had been holding out to keep the enemy at bay for about an hour and a half. However, the North Vietnamese persisted in their assault, forcing Zabitosky to repeatedly put himself in danger in order to “adjust suppressive helicopter-gunship fire around the landing zone,” according to his citation.  , ++
He eventually boarded the second helicopter with a few of his men. In order to continue firing at the enemy as it took off, Zabitosky positioned himself close to the door. As it did, a rocket-propelled grenade flew directly in their direction, striking the helicopter in the tail and causing it to crash.  , ++
Zabitosky initially lost consciousness after being thrown from the plane. He had broken his back and several ribs when he regained consciousness, but despite the severe pain, the man ran to the wreckage of the helicopter in an effort to free the people trapped inside. Zabitosky was able to remove the copilot and the severely injured pilot from the aircraft despite the dangers of fuel and ordnance exploding all around him. According to his citation, the intense heat forced him to retreat after attempting to save the team members who were also on the aircraft.  , ++
A third helicopter that was hovering above the ground was within 10 feet of the two pilots after Zabitosky was able to drag them through a hail of enemy gunfire. He attempted to return to the downed chopper once more after loading the pilots onto it, but he passed out. The pilots loaded him into the third helicopter, and he was taken off.  ,
For about a month, Zabitosky was unable to walk after being taken to the hospital in South Vietnam. After six weeks of recovery, he was returned to the United States.
Just over a year after his valiant deeds, Zabitosky was presented with the Medal of Honor by President Richard M. Nixon on March 7, 1969. Staff Sergeant and two additional soldiers Spc. and Joe Hooper. Clarence Sasser, a fifth-class student, also received the medal that day.  , ++
According to the News and Observer newspaper in Raleigh, North Carolina, Zabitosky served in the Army for almost another ten years before retiring in 1977 after serving for 18 years. He stayed in North Carolina with his family, which had grown to include a daughter.  , ++
Zabitosky continued to serve in the military as a counselor at Fort Bragg’s Department of Veterans Affairs. He traveled to Vietnam for the final time in February 1982, this time to look into the possibility of American POWs and missing persons.  , ++
According to the News and Observer, Zabitosky underwent surgery to treat a cancerous brain tumor before passing away on January 8, 1996. In Lumberton, North Carolina’s Lumbee Memorial Gardens, he is laid to rest.  , ++
Any Special Forces service member visiting Fort Bragg, which is now Fort Liberty, may be familiar with the renowned Green Beret. His name is on Zabitosky Street, the main street at the Special Warfare School. At the Ewing Township Municipal Building, close to Zabitosky’s hometown, a memorial display honoring him was also built in 2017. In addition to  ,
The U.S. Army Airborne and Special Forces Museum in North Carolina displayed Zabitosky’s Medal of Honor in 2019. The JFK Presidential Library and Museum currently houses it.  , ++
One of the more than 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients who have won the U.S. military’s highest medal for bravery is highlighted in this article, which is part of a weekly series called” Medal of Honour Monday” .