Vietnam War · Medal of Honor
First Lieutenant, Company B, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army
ACTION: MARCH 15, 1967 — HAU NGHIA PROVINCE, REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM
His Story
Ruppert Leon Sargent was born in Hampton, Virginia, on January 6, 1938. He graduated from George P. Phenix High School there in 1956 and spent the following academic year at Virginia State College in Petersburg. He enlisted in the Army from Richmond in 1959, which is why his Medal of Honor is accredited to the city. He served six years in the ranks and then went to Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning. He was commissioned an infantry second lieutenant in October 1965 and reached Vietnam the next September as a platoon leader. He had a wife and two small children at home.
He had been offered the job of company executive officer, which would have taken him out of the field. On March 15, 1967, his company commander, Captain Watty Smith, went into Hau Nghia Province to check reports of a Viet Cong meetinghouse and weapons cache, and Sargent went with him. "Boss, there was no way in hell I'm going to let you come out here by yourself," Smith remembered him saying.
Sargent found the tunnel entrance and saw the booby trap. Grenades failed to clear it, so he moved in with his demolition man and flushed out a Viet Cong soldier, whom the platoon sergeant shot. Sargent then approached the entrance with the platoon sergeant and a forward observer. A second Viet Cong emerged and threw two grenades into the middle of the group. Sargent fired three shots, turned, and threw himself over both grenades. The blast killed him. The other two men were lightly wounded. He was 29.
His was the earliest act of valor by a Black commissioned officer to be recognized with the Medal of Honor. He had been raised a Jehovah's Witness, a faith that forbids its members to serve in the military, and he enlisted anyway. His widow, Mary Jo Sargent, held to the same faith and at first declined the Medal on religious grounds. When the Army agreed to present it privately, she accepted. On March 10, 1969, Brigadier General Donley P. Bolton brought the Medal to the family's home in Hampton. The only others present were Sargent's two children.
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. While leading a platoon of Company B, 1st Lt. Sargent was investigating a reported Viet Cong meetinghouse and weapons cache. A tunnel entrance which 1st Lt. Sargent observed was booby-trapped. He tried to destroy the booby trap and blow the cover from the tunnel using hand grenades, but this attempt was not successful. He and his demolition man moved in to destroy the booby trap and cover which flushed a Viet Cong soldier from the tunnel, who was immediately killed by the nearby platoon sergeant. First Lt. Sargent, the platoon sergeant, and a forward observer moved toward the tunnel entrance. As they approached, another Viet Cong emerged and threw two hand grenades that landed in the midst of the group. First Lt. Sargent fired three shots at the enemy then turned and unhesitatingly threw himself over the two grenades. He was mortally wounded, and his two companions were lightly wounded when the grenades exploded. By his courageous and selfless act of exceptional heroism, he saved the lives of the platoon sergeant and forward observer and prevented the injury or death of several other nearby comrades. First Lt. Sargent's actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army.
— Medal of Honor citation, awarded posthumously
His Legacy Today
Hampton dedicated the Ruppert Leon Sargent Memorial City Administration Building on October 5, 2002, and a statue of Sargent stands in its lobby. Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3219 was renamed for him in April 2019.
The First Lieutenant Ruppert L. Sargent STEM Leadership Scholarship awards $1,000 to a Virginia State University student in a STEM field, with the university's chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers. Samantha A. Collins received it first, in April 2026. In 2025, Monumental Honor took part in the VSU STEM Expo and gave $500 to the NSBE chapter, an on-campus organization that shares the goal of honoring Sargent.
Learn more:Official record at the Congressional Medal of Honor Society
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