On the 50th anniversay of heroically saving numerous men in Vietnam, there are renewed efforts to award the Medal of Honor to a Girard veteran. 

It was in the early morning hours of May 7th, 1970 when Private Kenneth David's company came under an intense attack on a mountaintop in Vietnam. David remembers like it was yesterday.

"I could see the explosions going off, I could see my buddies getting killed, it was one big nightmare," David said.

David didn't know it at the time, but he was one of only two men left alive to defend his portion of the perimeter.

"Explosions would go off and you see a face in front of you and you just shoot it," David said. "I had RPG shrapnel in my back, both my eardrums blown out."

Still, he unleashed a barrage of fire and for several hours single handily resisted enemy efforts and secured a landing zone so casualties could be extracted.

"I jumped out of the hole, rifle in hand and I took care of business and they were closer than you are to me. I was more or less eyeball to eyeball and did all I could do and I couldn't save everybody but I did save a lot of guys," David said.

He was severely outnumbered.

"Some reports say there were 300 sappers and maybe a thousand NVA and the report I got from the archives say it was more than that, but there was only 18 of us."

At one point in the battle, grenades were being tossed at American casualties. David raised his arms and starting yelling and running to try and divert the enemies attention towards him.

"I don't know, I was just screaming like a wild man, jumping from hole to hole doing what I had to do and doing what I was trained to do," David said.

While seven men died, 13 made it home, much in part to David's heroic efforts.

"Would I do it again? In a heartbeat because your brother in the jungle would die for you and you would die for him," David said.

David was presented with the nations second highest award for extraordinary heroism, the Distinguished Service Cross. For the past 21 years though, efforts have been made to have that medal upgraded, to the Medal of Honor.

"There's been a lot of efforts on a lot of parts," said Herm Breuer, Director of Trumbull County Veteran Services. "The congressman's offices have helped to cut through a lot of the bureaucracy for us and I think now we have our best effort and best foot forward to try and attain this upgrade to the medal of honor.

Herm Breuer has been personally involved in the case since 2009, doing countless hours of research and legwork to make sure all the documentation to get David considered for the upgrade was going through the proper channels.

"To him, he was doing his duty that day. And he continues to do that duty has a disabled veteran serving the community everyday so I kind of feel like it's kind of on me to take up that charge for him to give him that voice that I know that he deserves because of what happened on that hill," Breuer said.

Breuer says what happened on that hill is nothing short of heroic and extraordinary.

"Knowing what Ken went through that day and knowing the individuals who survived that day, they all are in agreement that if it weren't for Ken's actions, none of them would be here. We wouldn't know any of the story at all, if it weren't for Ken David, that's why it's important to me to make sure that this happens," Breuer said.

Congressman Tim Ryan and Bill Johnson as well as Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown all agree. They recently sent a letter to the Secretary of the Army, Ryan McCarthy, in support of Ken David being awarded the Medal of Honor. In their words, "This travesty of justice can stand no longer."

Breuer says the packet of documentation showing why David deserves the Medal of Honor is now at the Board of Corrections of Military Records for their determination. The Secretary of the Army can also unilaterally award the Medal of Honor to David.

"13 men made it off that hill thanks to his actions," Breuer said. "So that is what the Medal of Honor is about, it's about his actions saving their lives but then it's also he can tell the stories of the guys who didn't come off the hill. Those guys who were left on that hill that day, there stories can live on through Ken because of his actions, that's what the Medal of Honor means and why this is so important."