March, 1966. Quảng Ngãi Province, Republic of Vietnam. Operation UTAH - a joint operation between the U.S. Marines and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) to fight North Vietnamese Army (NVA) in the province - is in full effect. 19 year old Private First Class Danny Hernandez of M Company, 3rd Battalion/1st Marines, has already lost 17 fellow Marines from his Company in just one day.
What happens next is a tale of long-forgotten bravery followed by the fight to place those actions in their rightful spot in history. This exclusive interview with Military.com will highlight Danny’s extraordinary heroism, the long wait for recognition, and the committee dedicated to upgrading his award to the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Operation Utah
When the Marines of M Company, 3/1, commenced Operation Utah, they thought they would be fighting more of the small firefights they had gotten accustomed to since conducting an amphibious landing into South Vietnam in January. What they didn’t expect was the first major engagement between the U.S. Marines and a regimental sized NVA element.
As the Marines began engaging the NVA, they pushed into rice paddies and settled into the flat terrain. Immediately, they became suppressed. As they became heavily engaged with an NVA unit in a nearby bunker complex, Danny noticed a badly wounded Marine, Private First Class Joel Rodriguez, lying near the enemy’s position. What happens next, according to his citation, represents the utmost ideals of courage, bravery, and dedication to duty - all with complete disregard for his own personal well-being.
Private First Class Hernandez, giving no thought to his own safety, fearlessly ran across an area of heavy enemy fire, picked up the wounded Marine, and carried him to safety.
In the process, Danny himself was shot in the back. In spite of this, he refused evacuation, stopping only to allow a Corpsman to bandage the wound. He then returned to the fight, immediately resuming fire in support of the bunker assault. Danny then hears loud shouts from a group of wounded Marines, and worse - he sees enemy soldiers advancing and firing upon his injured comrades.
Realizing that he was the only thing standing between life and death for these Marines, PFC Hernandez leapt from his covered position and drew the enemy’s fire himself.
Once more giving no thought to his own personal safety and ignoring the pain of his previous gunshot wound, he killed the enemy in a “furious exchange of gunfire” and saved the lives of his wounded brothers. Danny himself described the incident in an interview with Military.com:
“I started hearing ‘oh my God, help!’ from the MEDEVAC zone, and I see bullets shooting at the wounded. At that point, I made my peace with God and jumped back in. I just started running towards the enemy with my machine gun fully loaded. I was firing away, going at them while the enemy jumped back into the tunnel - and I followed them. Then the tunnel collapsed. I came out, but after that I didn’t have anything left in me.”
Danny tells the story today in ferocious detail. Recalling precise details of the battle. After what felt like an eternity, he regained his strength and went together with a team assembled to get the dead and wounded. As they pushed forward, engaging more pockets of resistance, Danny himself would be shot again, this time in the head. He crawled to the Corpsman to get patched up and was shortly taken to a MEDEVAC zone as the Marines were able to establish a site for a helicopter to land; Danny and the bodies of deceased Marines were then loaded into the aircraft.
“In the helicopter I was the only one alive. The blood of all the dead Marines was flowing out and got all over me. When they finally put me on an operating table they thought my injuries were even worse than they were because of all the blood. But it was everyone else’s blood.”
Danny was transferred to Guam for medical care and four months later he was back in Vietnam with the Marines of M Company, 3/1. He would ultimately spend 16 months overseas with 12 months in combat.
Forgotten Heroism
In spite of his heroic actions in 1966, it would take over 43 years until the U.S. military recognized his bravery. Due to a misunderstanding and lost paperwork, Danny’s Silver Star Citation (written shortly after the incident) would not actually be submitted until decades later.
In a ceremony in 2009, Daniel was finally awarded the Silver Star in a ceremony attended by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, himself a longtime advocate of the Marines, and presented by (then) MajGen John Kelly (later White House Chief of Staff).
“There’s a difference between action heroes in movies, and action heroes in real life. Danny is a real action hero,” Governor Schwarzenegger remarked at the ceremony.
General Kelly’s glowing praise also paints a picture of Danny’s sacrifice: “It takes a special person to know you have a ticket out of battle, and you still don’t take it. Those men would have died had it not been for Danny.”
The Fight to Upgrade to the Medal of Honor
A committee was formed by advocates that recognized the heroic deeds of Danny Hernandez. Hubert Yoshida, a platoon commander in 7th Marines during Operation UTAH, took charge of the herculean effort to recognize Danny with the nation’s highest honor. He went through the painstaking process of gathering witness statements, filing all required paperwork, working through congressional representatives, and making all revisions along the way as required.
Sadly, Yoshida passed away in April, 2025, after a fight with cancer. But in his final years as he was battling cancer, he dedicated everything he had left to ensuring that Danny would be recognized for his heroism. In a statement before his passing, Yoshida remarked “In my research I came across many heroic acts which I documented from eye witness accounts and award citations. Danny’s action stood out as particularly courageous and I began to compare it with other higher awards that were given for similar actions in other battles in Vietnam, and came to the conclusion that Danny should be qualified for the highest award, the Congressional Medal of Honor.”
The fight from these brothers in arms sticks out to Danny.
“I don’t know how to explain it. Yoshida kept fighting for this while battling cancer. Men like Lieutenant Lupori and Hubert Yoshida kept their word. That’s the real story here. The people who want someone to have something and put the effort in.”
Danny stated during the interview that the real value of Medal of Honor recognition would be what it means to the men who sacrificed with Mike Company, 3/1, and all the veterans of Operation UTAH.
A Lifelong Commitment to Service
"I did not own valor. Valor belongs to all those that fought in Operation Utah." - Danny Hernandez
In the long years since Operation UTAH, Danny has maintained his commitment to service. Long serving as a community leader in the greater Los Angeles area - particularly as CEO of the Hollenbeck Youth Center and founder of the Inner-City Games. A product of East Los Angeles in the 50s and 60s, Danny navigated extreme poverty and gang violence to make it in the United States Marine Corps; ultimately rising to the occasion when his brothers in arms needed him the most.
Danny is an American hero who demonstrated conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life, above and beyond the call of duty. This National Veterans Month, it’s time to recognize that.
For more information regarding efforts to upgrade Danny’s Silver Star to a Medal of Honor, Danny’s book, and information regarding his upcoming documentary please see the “committee to upgrade Sgt. Danny Hernandez.”
