WOUNDED. ALONE. HE TOWED HIS COMMANDER THROUGH ENEMY WATERS FOR 2 HOURS.

October 31, 1972. Republic of Vietnam.

Petty Officer Michael Thornton was serving as assistant U.S. Navy adviser on a SEAL patrol—an intelligence-gathering and prisoner capture operation against an enemy-occupied naval river base.

The patrol reached land and was continuing on foot when they came under heavy fire from a numerically superior force.

A fierce firefight erupted. The patrol accounted for many enemy casualties before moving back to the waterline to prevent encirclement.

Then the worst happened.

Thornton learned that the senior adviser—the lieutenant he was serving alongside—had been hit by enemy fire and was believed to be dead.

Any other man would have stayed where he was.

Thornton returned through a hail of fire to the lieutenant’s last position.

He quickly disposed of two enemy soldiers about to overrun the position.

He succeeded in removing the seriously wounded and unconscious senior naval adviser to the water’s edge.

Then he inflated the lieutenant’s lifejacket and towed him seaward for approximately two hours until picked up by support craft.

He saved the life of his superior officer.

Every patrol member was safely extracted.

Michael Thornton was awarded the Medal of Honor.

The man he saved? Lieutenant Thomas Norris—who received his own Medal of Honor three years later.

One SEAL saved another SEAL. Both received the Medal of Honor.