Vietnam War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. He served as a Sergeant in the United States Army in Troop D, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for action on September 14, 1969 near Song Be, Republic of Vietnam. He was killed in action. His citation in part reads "After silencing at least one position, he ran with his machine gun across 60 meters of bullet-swept ground to another location from which he continued to rake the enemy positions. Running low on ammunition, he returned to his vehicle over the same terrain. Moments later he was alerted that the command element was receiving intense automatic-weapons, rocket-propelled-grenade and mortar fire. Although he knew the road was saturated with enemy fire, Sgt.Skidgel calmly mounted his vehicle and with his driver advanced toward the command group in an effort to draw the enemy fire onto himself. Despite the hostile fire concentrated on him, he succeeded in silencing several enemy positions with his machine gun. Moments later Sgt. Skidgel was knocked down onto the rear fender by the explosion of an enemy rocket-propelled grenade. Ignoring his extremely painful wounds, he staggered back to his feet and placed effective fire on several other enemy positions until he was mortally wounded by hostile small-arms fire."
Vietnam War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. He served as a Sergeant in the United States Army in Troop D, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for action on September 14, 1969 near Song Be, Republic of Vietnam. He was killed in action. His citation in part reads "After silencing at least one position, he ran with his machine gun across 60 meters of bullet-swept ground to another location from which he continued to rake the enemy positions. Running low on ammunition, he returned to his vehicle over the same terrain. Moments later he was alerted that the command element was receiving intense automatic-weapons, rocket-propelled-grenade and mortar fire. Although he knew the road was saturated with enemy fire, Sgt.Skidgel calmly mounted his vehicle and with his driver advanced toward the command group in an effort to draw the enemy fire onto himself. Despite the hostile fire concentrated on him, he succeeded in silencing several enemy positions with his machine gun. Moments later Sgt. Skidgel was knocked down onto the rear fender by the explosion of an enemy rocket-propelled grenade. Ignoring his extremely painful wounds, he staggered back to his feet and placed effective fire on several other enemy positions until he was mortally wounded by hostile small-arms fire."
Bio by: Don Morfe
Family Members
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See more Skidgel memorials in:
Records on Ancestry
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U.S., Newspapers.com™ Obituary Index, 1800s-current
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Web: Congressional Medal of Honor Society Recipients, 1839 - 2012
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Maine, U.S., Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection, 1780-1980
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U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010
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Vietnam War: U.S. Military Casualties, 1956-1998
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