Joseph G. LaPointe Jr.

Joseph Guy LaPointe Jr. (July 2, 1948 – June 2, 1969) was a medic in the United States Army who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Vietnam War.

Biography
LaPointe, known to his family as "Guy", was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. After graduating from Northridge High School in 1966, he moved to nearby Clayton and worked as a mail carrier in Englewood. LaPointe was a nature lover and an avid hiker.

LaPointe was drafted in 1968 and declared himself a conscientious objector. He married Cindy Failor of Dayton, Ohio at the Englewood First Baptist Church in Ohio, during his training at the Army Medical Training Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He became a combat medic and sent to Vietnam in November 1968. By June 2 of the next year, he was a Specialist Four serving with the 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. On that day, he participated in a patrol on Hill 376 in Quảng Tín Province. When his unit came under heavy fire from entrenched enemy forces and took several casualties, LaPointe ran through the automatic weapons fire to reach two wounded men at the head of the patrol. He treated the soldiers and shielded them with his body, even after being twice wounded, until an enemy grenade killed all three men. For these actions, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in January 1972. His other decorations include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and National Defense Service Medal. He left a "widow, Cindy LaPointe [now] Dafler, and [a] son Joseph G. LaPointe III, who ...never met his father."

Medal of Honor citation
LaPointe's official Medal of Honor citation reads:



Tributes


Several structures have been named in LaPointe's honor, including a housing complex and medical complex in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, a medical heliport in Fort Benning, Georgia, and an Army Reserve Center in Riverside, Ohio. A portion of Ohio State Route 49 in Montgomery County has been designated the "Joseph G. LaPointe Jr. Memorial Highway". On June 2, 2009, the fortieth anniversary of his death, LaPointe's widow and son were presented with the Medal of Honor flag during a ceremony at the LaPointe Army Reserve Center in Riverside.