SIGNAL MOUNTAIN, Tenn. — An East Tennessee Army veteran who recently received the Medal of Honor for his heroism during the Vietnam War has died. Capt. Larry Taylor died on Sunday, Jan. 28 at his home in Signal Mountain.
Taylor received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military honor, in Sept. 2023, which came nearly 55 years after he pulled off one of the most daring and unique rescues in American combat history.
“I know it sounds cliché but I was just doing my job,” said Taylor, who was a helicopter pilot who flew more than 2,000 combat missions that included 61 combat decorations and a chest full of awards. “You never think about any of that. Certainly didn’t think of it then. Just look at, there’s a problem that needs doin’."
The problem on the night of June 18, 1968, included four American soldiers surrounded and heavily outnumbered by enemy troops in Vietnam. Capt. Taylor learned commanders had aborted a rescue attempt around the village of Ap Go Gong because it was too dangerous. The graduate of the University of Tennessee refused to return to base and flew into the darkness to see if he could help save those four soldiers.
Facing a hail of enemy gunfire, the veteran combat pilot swooped into the darkness. Low on fuel, low on ammo and in an aircraft built to carry two people, Larry Taylor landed his Cobra attack helo so those four American soldiers could scramble aboard the skids and the rocket pods.
“I just lifted them straight up,” Taylor said, who took them to a safer spot and watched them salute him as they ran back into the jungle, alive thanks to his heroic decision to put his life in jeopardy to save them. “If you didn’t pick them up and you didn’t protect them and you didn’t cover them, there would be four skeletons in a swamp somewhere.”
After the war, Larry Taylor returned to Chattanooga to run his family roofing and sheet metal company. It would be decades before he reunited with any of the soldiers he saved that night.
When asked about the most important piece of his military record, Capt. Taylor responded, “I survived.”
Colonel Frank Hughes, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and a chairman of the Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, said Taylor exemplified the best of America for his patriotism, commitment, courage and sacrifice during the Vietnam War.
“Today, our country has lost a great American hero with the passing of Medal of Honor recipient Captain Larry Lowe Taylor," Hughes said. "It’s fitting that his legacy will be told at the Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center where his heroic act of valor will continue to serve as an inspiration for all of us, today and into the future, on how ordinary people can face and overcome extraordinary challenges in their life to make a difference. My thoughts and prayers are with the Taylor family during this difficult time.”
Retired Army General B. B. Bell, a fellow chairman of the National Advisory Board at the Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, said Capt. Taylor's remains will be laid to rest at the Chattanooga National Military Cemetery. He will be interred near other East Tennessee Medal of Honor recipients, Charles Coolidge and Desmond Doss, in the city that is considered to be the birthplace of America's highest military honor.
"Larry’s earthly remains will now reside forever just down the high circle road from Charlie's and just this side of Desmond's in the Chattanooga National Military Cemetery. All three of these Medal of Honor recipients are up there where Grant stood when he led the breakout of Federal Forces from Chattanooga and set the stage for the end of the Civil War. Sacred ground. More sacred now with Larry’s remains to be interred there. Chattanooga, the birthplace of the Medal of Honor. Larry Taylor, one of those born here who fought for us so we could live quiet, protected, safe lives. Where do we get such men?” Bell said.
“I am heartbroken to hear about the passing of Captain Larry Taylor last night. Cpt. Taylor exemplified the best of Tennessee and America and what it means to serve others and freedom," Congressman Chuck Fleischmann (R-Chattanooga) said. "One of the greatest honors and privileges I’ve had in my life was getting to know Larry and his family and participating in advocating for Cpt. Taylor to be rightfully awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic and selfless actions during the Vietnam War that saved the lives of his brothers in arms.”
Of the millions of men and women who have served in uniform throughout US history, roughly 3,500 troops have received the Medal of Honor. With Taylor's passing, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society said there are 63 alive today.