REEDVILLE, Va. -- The town of Reedville nestled on Virginia’s Northern Neck is a quintessential country spot worlds away from big city life.
“It is peaceful. It is quiet,” resident Harvey “Barney” Barnum said. “That sound you hear is silence. The pace is much slower.”
It is a slice of heaven on earth for Barnum, Jr.
”If you don’t get it done today. We’ll get it done tomorrow. Or the next day,” he said.
It is a perfect escape to reflect on a life well lived.
“It is a good getaway. A good getaway,” he said.
But one far-off place Barnum will never get away from lies 9,000 miles away. A country close to this veteran’s heart and soul.
In 1965, then 1st Lt. Barnum volunteered for a tour of duty in Vietnam. The decision altered the young Marine’s life forever.
“You know service before self,” he said. “I think that is very important and I learned it as a young kid. I was assigned the forward observer with Hotel Company 2nd Battalion 9th Marines. And I went out on my first patrol with them.”
On December 18, just days after arriving the 25-year-old’s battalion was ambushed by the enemy.
“First machine guns started and then a few rocket grenades,” Barnum said. “Then all hell breaks loose. Mortars. RPGs. The first time I had been shot at and I hit the deck.”
It is the officer’s baptism of fire.
The company’s leader Captain Paul Gormley is cut down. 1st Lt. Barnum demonstrated the first of many acts of heroism on the battlefield that day.
“I don’t know what possessed me I went out and picked up the company commander and I brought him back,” Barnum said. ”He was pretty shot up. He was alive and we talked. And he died in my arms.”
Barnum was suddenly now in command.
“When I looked up from under my helmet all of these young Marines are looking at me. ‘Lieutenant, what are we going to do,’” Barnum said. “The noise level is absolutely phenomenal. I had never experienced that before.”
Chaos enveloped the roughly 130 Marines who were outnumbered 10 to one. Much to his dismay help was not coming. The company was all alone.
“The weather is coming in. It is getting dark,” Barnum said. “The battalion commander says ‘You got to come out we can’t come get you. If you don’t come out you’re there by yourself all night.’”
The firefight ground on into the evening. With each passing hour, more Marines were lost.
“We were mortared and shot at all night,” Barnum said. “Anyone who says they’re not scared when they get shot at is either smoking dope or lying.”
Nearly surrounded, Barnum displayed even more courage under fire.
“When push comes to shove the main thing you have to do is control your fear. Don’t show it,” Barnum said.
Barnum led counterattacks, directed artillery, and evacuated wounded and dead Marines all while exposing himself to the enemy.
”Survival is a strong motivator,” Barnum said.
He knew if the company did not escape he and every one of his Marines would not live to see another day.
“Well, you know that was the hard part for me,” Barnum, 83, said. “To see a Marine shot doing what I told him to do.”
The officer then ordered a charge through enemy lines and across open ground.
“We did what Marines do. We broke out. We showed them. Don’t mess with us,” Barnum said.
What is left of his company reaches the relative safety of a nearby village.
“I don’t think the enemy expected us to do that. I think they thought they were going to close in and get us that night,” Barnum said.
Word of Barnum’s heroics worked its way up the chain of command.
“My biggest fear was if I did it right. As it turned out I did it right,” Barnum said. “You don’t ask your troops to do something that you don’t do.”
Fellow Marines recommended him for the Medal of Honor for heroism at the Battle of Ky Phu.
“I was happy to be alive for God’s sake,” Barnum said.
Two years later, on February 27, 1967, Barnum was decorated with the nation’s highest military award.
“Secretary of the Navy Paul Nitze put the medal on. I’m looking right at my mom and dad. My mother has tears coming down,” Barnum said. “My Dad is standing there proud as can be. I’m looking at people who were very emotional.”
The decorated Marine then surprised his superiors and requested to get back in the fight.
“Yeah, I was the first Medal of Honor Recipient to return to Vietnam,” the proud veteran said.
Following three decades in the Marine Corps, Colonel Barnum retired in 1989. But his service to the nation did not end. He was appointed to a position as deputy assistant secretary of the Navy at the Pentagon.
“I can’t tell you how rewarding it was to make things happen for sailors and Marines,” Barnum said.
In July 2023, another milestone for the Marine.
His wife Martha christened the Navy’s newest destroyer the U.S.S. Harvey C. Barnum, Jr.
“You talk about honors. What an honor that is,” Barnum said. “I was speechless. And people know I am never speechless.”
According to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, the 83-year-old grandfather is one of only 61 living members of a shrinking fraternity.
“So many of these great Americans aren’t with us anymore,” Barnum said.
A membership that comes with great responsibility long after the pomp and circumstance end.
“And again the hard part is that people put you on a pedestal. Well, I don’t belong on a pedestal. I’m not a perfect person,” Barnum said. “It's harder to wear than to earn. It is just part of what makes me who I am.”
Colonel Harvey C. Barnum, Jr. hailed a hero for valor during combat long ago, but this recipient says his Medal of Honor represents more than the bravery of a young 1st Lieutenant that fateful day.
“Yes. And I have to tell you. I’ve said all of these years that the medal I wear is not just for me. I wear it for those great Marines and Navy Corpsman that didn’t walk off the battlefield that day,” says Barnum. “I wear it in their honor. I wear it in their honor.”
The newly renovated Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s museum is located on board the USS Yorktown at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant, SC.
It will reopen in May 2024.
Watch Greg McQuade's stories on CBS 6 and WTVR.com. If you know someone Greg should profile, email him at greg.mcquade@wtvr.com.
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