My Captain

Credit Earl Van Alstine / U.S. Army / U.S. Army

Paul "Bud" Bucha, in foreground, on the morning of March 19, 1968 after he sees the body of Lt. Jimmy Sherrill being brought in on a stretcher.

Dave Dillard's eulogy for Medal of Honor Recipient CPT Paul "Bud" Bucha (USMA '65, GSB '67) at West Point, January 2025.

"We were on a mission when the North Vietnamese Army invaded Saigon, known as the Tet Offensive in 1968. They were denied and sent back into the jungle.

Our company was called in to find them and reach them before they got back across the Cambodian border. We had been on that mission for 3 days and were now down to 89 men, paratroopers. And at that point we took a resupply.

My Captain decided that we should leave off that landing zone and make our way to the jungle under the cover of darkness and set up our position. What he did not know is that the direction we took would lead us into a reinforced regiment of about 1500 North Vietnamese regulars.

As the point element made contact the jungle absolutely exploded with heavy machine gun fire, rocket propelled grenades, and all sorts or ordinance.

Our forward elements were being overrun. We had 6 killed, 25 wounded in the first 20 to 30 minutes. We tried to break off contact. We were unable to and soon found that we were trapped.

That is when My Captain showed his brilliance as he maneuvered tactically in the most amazing ways through a 13 hour battle when we should have been overrun. When the first light game, we discovered that the enemy had broken off contact and 79 of us survived. And My Captain received the Medal of Honor.

Many people have asked me over the years, 'Dave you were the RTO for a Medal of Honor recipient, what medal did you receive? What did you get?'

I have always responded the same way.

I got to live.

I got life.

I got to go home.

I got to see my mom and dad.

I got to see the family farm again.

I got married.

I got to go to college.

I have 6 children, and 12 grandchildren.

I have a little ranch down in Texas.

I got life.

Today is a very sad day for me, but I was able to work for 50 years with My Captain. We were able to help veterans and their families all over the world. And for that I will be eternally grateful.

Yes, I miss him. I know I will see him again. Because I know one thing, Paul Bucha, who I call Bud, will always and forever be My Captain."