Donald Spivey

Step Forward the Hero: the Story of Milton L. Olive, Iii, First African American Awarded the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War Donald Spivey

The biography of Milton L. Olive, III, the first African American awarded the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War. We learn not just about Milton Olive the individual, but about the special challenges of an African American coming of age in the 1960s, the issue of career choices and the necessity of staying in school and getting an education, about Milton's hometowns of Chicago, Illinois, and Lexington, Mississippi, about military life and training, about Vietnam and the war itself, and concerns about morality, violence, the obligations and responsibilities of citizenship, and about compassion and bravery. It is all here in the Milton Olive story. The book is written to read like an historical novel. However, the information presented about Milton L. Olive, III, and his experiences in and outside of the military and the specifics occurring around him, are all researched and historically grounded.