Robert H. Jenkins Jr. Vietnam Marine awarded the Medal of Honor

Nov 14 , 2025

Robert H. Jenkins Jr. Vietnam Marine awarded the Medal of Honor

Grenade hissing through the humid jungle air. Time slows. No escape. Then — thunderous impact.

Robert H. Jenkins Jr. dove into the chaos with one mission: save his brothers. The blast tore through flesh and bone, but Jenkins hung on — shielding fellow Marines with his own fallen body. Blood soaked earth and the raw grit of sacrifice defined that moment. He gave everything to buy seconds. He was gone but not forgotten.

Born of Grit and Faith

Robert Howard Jenkins Jr. was born March 3, 1948, in Junction City, Kansas. Raised in a sturdy Midwestern home, Jenkins learned early what it meant to stand for something. Faith sculpted his backbone — a quiet, steadfast belief in honor, duty, and sacrifice.

“I’m a Marine. I’m a believer,” Jenkins once said through letters home. His faith wasn’t just words. It was armor, the compass that steered him through hell’s inferno. Raised on scripture and simple truths, Jenkins held tight to the promise in Romans 8:38-39:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life... will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This hope was no abstract comfort—it was a lifeline in the bloodied trenches of Vietnam.

The Battle That Defined Him

June 5, 1969, Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam. Jenkins was serving with Company D, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. The mission was treacherous: confront a heavily entrenched enemy position amid brutal monsoon rains.

His squad came under intense fire in a jungle thicket, pinned down by machine guns and mortars. The air was thick with gunpowder and fear. Jenkins moved like a force of nature, rallying men to assault the enemy emplacement.

The turning point came when an enemy grenade landed among the Marines. Jenkins made a split-second decision — with zero hesitation, he thrust himself over the explosive. The grenade detonated beneath him. His body absorbed the full blast.

His actions saved the lives of the five men closest to him. Jenkins died instantly from wounds, but his courage sparked his squad forward. They cleared the enemy notch, disrupting the ambush and turning the tide.

Such raw valor echoes in history’s unforgiving mirror.

Recognition Carved in Honor

For his unstoppable selflessness, Jenkins was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor — the nation’s highest military decoration. The citation highlighted his extraordinary heroism:

“Sergeant Jenkins, without hesitation, threw himself on the grenade... shielding his comrades from the deadly explosion... inspiring his unit to continue the attack and defeat the enemy.”

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Leonard F. Chapman Jr. spoke of Jenkins’s sacrifice:

“His actions exemplify the highest traditions of the United States Marine Corps and the warrior spirit.”

Fellow Marines remember Jenkins not as a casualty but as a legend — a brother who gave all without flinching.

Legacy Etched in Blood and Redemption

Robert Jenkins’s story isn’t about death. It’s about the fierce flame of sacrifice — about a warrior who chose others over himself when the world fell apart. His legacy lives in those five saved souls, in the Marine Corps ethos, in every veteran who grits teeth and bears scars unseen.

His sacrifice is a reminder that courage isn’t the absence of fear—it’s the will to act despite it. That true valor asks nothing in return but a debt paid in full. His story teaches redemptive purpose:

Battles end. Blood dries. But the call to protect, serve, and love endures.

The same faith that steady Jenkins carries countless other warriors through their darkest hours. Literature, memorials, and the few who remember tell us Robert Jenkins embodied the cross and the battlefront — carrying the weight of sin and warfare alike, until the final breath.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — John 15:13

He did not die for glory. He died for brothers. For country. For something greater than himself.

Remember Robert H. Jenkins Jr. as more than a Medal of Honor recipient. Remember him as the living proof of sacrifice etched deep into the soul of America’s finest warriors. Because stories like his... remind us all that redemption is earned in the thick of battle and written in the blood of the brave.

# Sources

1. Department of Defense, “Medal of Honor Citation for Robert H. Jenkins Jr.” 2. Marine Corps University, Heroes of the Vietnam War (2012) 3. Marine Corps Gazette, “Remembering Sergeant Robert H. Jenkins Jr.,” LtCol John S. Wilson, 2015 4. Congressional Medal of Honor Society, official records