Milton Lee Olive III was a United States Army soldier and the first African American to receive the Medal of Honor for his service in the Vietnam War. At just 18 years old, he heroically sacrificed his life by falling on a grenade to save the lives of his fellow soldiers on October 22, 1965, an act of extraordinary bravery that earned him the nation’s highest military decoration.

Olive was born on November 7, 1946, to Milton Olive II and Clara Olive in Chicago, Illinois. His mother died shortly after his birth. He was raised in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago by his aunt, Zylphia Wareagle Spencer, and her husband, Jacob Spencer. His family affectionately nicknamed him “Skipper.” Olive spent time on his grandparents’ farm in Lexington, Mississippi, frequently traveling between there and Chicago.

Olive’s father later remarried Antoinette Mainor, a Chicago Public Schools teacher. In 1964, Milton Lee Olive III joined the Mississippi Freedom voter registration campaign, which was active during the same period that civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were murdered. Concerned for his son’s safety, especially given the legacy of racial violence in Mississippi, including the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, he gave young Milton a choice: return to school, get a job, or join the military. Olive chose to enlist in the U.S. Army.

During his military service, Olive held the rank of Private First Class and served in Company B of the 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment (known as “The Rock”), and the 173rd Airborne Brigade (“Sky Soldiers”) during the Vietnam War.

On October 22, 1965, Olive was on patrol in the jungle near Phu Cuong, South Vietnam, with four other soldiers, including his platoon commander. As they searched for Viet Cong forces operating in the area, they came under enemy fire. The platoon returned fire and assaulted the Viet Cong position, causing the enemy to retreat.

While pursuing the fleeing enemy, a Viet Cong soldier threw a grenade toward Olive and his companions. Without hesitation, Olive grabbed the grenade, shouted “I’ve got it,” and smothered it with his body, absorbing the full blast and saving the lives of the other soldiers. He was killed instantly. His platoon commander later told a journalist, “It was the most incredible display of selfless bravery I ever witnessed.”

Olive’s body was returned to the United States and buried in West Grove Cemetery in Lexington, Holmes County, Mississippi. On October 21, 1966, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. President Lyndon B. Johnson presented the medal to Olive’s father and stepmother during a White House ceremony. Olive became the first African American to receive the Medal of Honor for actions in the Vietnam War.

In the same year, Milton Lee Olive Park in Chicago, designed by architect Dan Kiley, was dedicated in his honor. Olive-Harvey College, a community college in Chicago, was later named in honor of both Olive and Carmel Bernon Harvey Jr., another U.S. Army soldier who received the Medal of Honor after being killed in the Vietnam War. In 2007, a state historical marker was erected in Olive’s honor in Lexington, Mississippi.

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