LANCE CORPORAL
MIGUEL KEITH, USMC (DECEASED) 
 

Medal of Honor Citation

Miguel Keith, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam in May 1970, was born 2 June 1951, in San Antonio, Texas. He left North High School in Omaha, Nebraska, in December 1968, and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve at Omaha on 21 January 1969. He was discharged, 30 April 1969, and enlisted in the regular Marine Corps on 1 May 1969.

Ordered to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California, on 2 May 1969, he completed recruit training with the 1st Recruit Training Battalion, 17 July 1969, and was transferred to the Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California, for individual combat training with Company B, 1st Battalion, 2d Infantry Training Regiment.

Upon completion of individual combat training on 18 September 1969, he received orders to the Far East. On 6 November 1969, he arrived in the Republic of Vietnam and was assigned as a rifleman with the 1st Combined Action Group, III Marine Amphibious Force. While participating in combat, on 8 May 1970, he was mortally wounded in action in Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam.

He was promoted to private first class on 1 August 1969, and to lance corporal on 1 April 1970.

His medals and decorations include: the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with one bronze star, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Vietnam War Medal of Honor