PRIVATE FIRST CLASS
DOUGLAS EUGENE DICKEY, USMC (DECEASED)
 

Medal of Honor Citation

Private First Class Douglas Eugene Dickey, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during Operation Beacon Hill 1, on 26 March 1967, while serving as a rifleman with Company C, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade, 3d Marine Division, in the Republic of Vietnam, was born 24 December 1946 in Greenville, Ohio.

He graduated from grammar school in 1961, and from high school in 1965.  On 13 December 1965, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve at Cincinnati, Ohio, and was discharged to reenlist in the Regular Marine Corps on 11 April 1966.

In June 1966, after completing recruit training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California, he was transferred to the Marine Corps Base at Camp Pendleton, California, where he underwent individual combat training with the Second Infantry Training Regiment, graduating in August 1966.

The following October, he joined Company B, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 3d Marine Division, in the Republic of Vietnam. While attached to this unit, he participated in Operation Prairie. He was promoted to private first class on 1 October 1966.

On 8 November 1966, he was transferred to Company C, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 3d Marine Division, and participated in combat against insurgent Communist Viet Cong Forces, in Operations Deckhouse, Desota and Beacon Hill 1. It was during the latter engagement that he was mortally wounded on 26 March 1967.

A list of his medals and decorations includes: the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart with two Gold Stars, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with one bronze star, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Vietnam War 1963-1975 Medal of Honor