Joseph Guy LaPointe Jr. (July 2, 1948 – June 2, 1969) was a combat medic in the United States Army who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Vietnam War.

Biography

LaPointe, known to his family as "Guy", was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. After graduating from Northridge High School in 1966, he moved to nearby Clayton and worked as a mail carrier in Englewood. LaPointe was a nature lover and avid hiker. LaPointe was drafted in 1968 and declared himself a conscientious objector. He married Cindy Failor of Dayton, Ohio at the Englewood First Baptist Church in Ohio, during his training at the Army Medical Training Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He became a combat medic and was sent to Vietnam in November 1968. By June 2 of the next year, he was a Specialist 4 serving with the 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. On that day, he participated in a patrol on Hill 376 in Quảng Tín Province during Operation Lamar Plain. When his unit came under heavy fire from entrenched enemy forces and took several casualties, LaPointe ran through the automatic weapons fire to reach two wounded men at the head of the patrol. He treated the soldiers and shielded them with his body, even after being twice wounded, until they were all killed by an enemy grenade. For these actions, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in January 1972. His other decorations include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and National Defense Service Medal. He left a "widow, Cindy LaPointe Dafler, and son Joseph G. LaPointe III, who never met his father."

Medal of Honor citation

LaPointe's official Medal of Honor citation reads:

Legacy

Several structures have been named in LaPointe's honor: