Robert David Law
Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
_Specialist Four, United States Army_ Robert David Law was born on September 15, 1944, to Robert M. and Martha E. (Morris) Law in Fort Worth. He attended Fort Worth Technical High School, graduating in 1964, and was a member of Southcliff Baptist Church. Law enlisted in the U.S. Army at Dallas on October 17, 1967. He completed his Basic Combat Training and Infantry Advanced Individual Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and was advanced in rank to Private First Class. He graduated from Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia, in summer 1968, and received orders to join F Company (Ranger), 52nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division in combat in the Republic of (South) Vietnam. From 1968-69, Law served as a scout observer and was promoted in rank to E-4 as a Specialist Four (SP4). Under a February 1969 reorganization, his unit became I Company (Ranger), 75th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. SP4 Law had been in Vietnam for eight months when he volunteered for a mission to gather intelligence near the Cambodian border, northeast of the 1st Infantry Division base camp at Lai Khe. Law paced a patrol of six rangers beginning on February 20, 1969. Within an hour of their insertion by helicopter, the patrol was in a gunfight. Law sprayed rifle fire into the woods to cover the patrol’s retreat for the night. The next day, the rangers monitored enemy troops near a log bridge over a stream. On the morning of February 22, three Viet Cong soldiers spotted the rangers and opened fire. During the exchange, a grenade rolled close to three of the rangers. Law threw himself on the grenade to save his comrades and was killed instantly. When notified about her son’s death, his mother remarked that his letters home indicated that “He knew what he was fighting for.” In August 1970 at the White House in Washington, D.C., President Richard M. Nixon presented SP4 Law’s family with a posthumous Medal of Honor for his selfless and decisive actions. (2020)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Fort Worth native Robert David Law enlisted in the Army in 1967, trained as an airborne infantryman, and joined a Ranger company of the 75th Infantry in Vietnam. On February 22, 1969, while on a small patrol near the Cambodian border, his rangers came under fire and a grenade landed among them—Law threw himself onto it, dying instantly to save his comrades. In 1970 President Nixon presented his family with a posthumous Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor.
Why it matters
SP4 Law's sacrifice stands among the defining acts of individual heroism in the Vietnam War, honoring the ultimate cost borne by a generation of American soldiers.
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Related people
- · Robert David Law
- · Richard M. Nixon
Related events
- · Vietnam War
- · Medal of Honor
Themes & tags
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