John P. Bobo

Infobox Military Person
name= John Paul Bobo
born= birth date|1943|2|14
died= death date and age|1967|3|30|1943|2|14
placeofbirth= Niagara Falls, New York
placeofdeath= KIA in Vietnam
placeofburial=


caption= John P. Bobo, Medal of Honor recipient
nickname=
allegiance= flagicon|United States United States of America
branch=United States Marine Corps
serviceyears= 1965-1967
rank= Second Lieutenant
commands=
unit=3rd Battalion 9th Marines
battles= Vietnam War
awards= Medal of Honor Purple Heart
laterwork="For other persons of the same name see John Bobo (disambiguation)."

John Paul Bobo (February 14, 1943–March 30, 1967) was a United States Marine Corps second lieutenant who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam in March 1967.

Biography

John Paul Bobo was born on February 14, 1943 in Niagara Falls, New York. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve on May 28, 1965 in Buffalo, New York, while attending Niagara University. Then he received a B.A. Degree in History from the University in June 1965 and was commissioned a Marine Corps Reserve second lieutenant on December 17, 1965.

Second Lieutenant Bobo completed the Officer Candidate Course, The Basic School, Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Virginia, in May 1966.

Following graduation, he was ordered to the Republic of Vietnam. There he was assigned duty as platoon commander, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. While serving in this capacity, he was mortally wounded while firing his weapon into the mainpoint of the enemy attack on March 30, 1967. He was 24 years old.

Awards and decorations

2nd Lieutenant Bobo's awards include:

*

*

* National Defense Service Medal

* (with one bronze star)

*

* (with Palm)

Foreign Awards
*National Order of Vietnam 5th Class

Medal of Honor citation

The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously to
SECOND LIEUTENANT JOHN P. BOBO UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
for service as set forth in the following CITATION:

:For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Weapons Platoon Commander, Company I, Third Battalion, Ninth Marines, Third Marine Division, in Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam, on 30 March 1967. Company I was establishing night ambush sites when the command group was attacked by a reinforced North Vietnamese company supported by heavy automatic weapons and mortar fire. Lieutenant Bobo immediately organized a hasty defense and moved from position to position encouraging the outnumbered Marines despite the murderous enemy fire. Recovering a rocket launcher from among the friendly casualties, he organized a new launcher team and directed its fire into the enemy machine gun position. When an exploding enemy mortar round severed Lieutenant Bobo's right leg below the knee, he refused to be evacuated and insisted upon being placed in a firing position to cover the movement of the command group to a better location. With a web belt around his leg serving as tourniquet and with his leg jammed into the dirt to curtail the bleeding, he remained in this position and delivered devastating fire into the ranks of the enemy attempting to overrun the Marines. Lieutenant Bobo was mortally wounded while firing his weapon into the mainpoint of the enemy attack but his valiant spirit inspired his men to heroic efforts, and his tenacious stand enabled the command group to gain a protective position where it repulsed the enemy onslaught. Lieutenant Bobo's superb leadership, dauntless courage, and bold initiative reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.2dLt John P. Bobo, "Marines Awarded the Medal of Honor.] /S/LYNDON B. JOHNSON

Namesake

The U.S. Navy has three classes of ships in its Marine Prepositioning Fleet — the newest class, which were built by General Dynamics and delivered to Military Sealift Command in the mid-1980s, are named the "2nd Lt. John P. Bobo" Class.cite web
accessdate=2007-05-31
url=http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4600&tid=200&ct=4
title=Maritime Prepositioning Ships - T-AK
work=The United States Navy — Fact File
publisher=USN] The lead ship of this class is the convert|673|ft|m|sing=on long maritime prepositioning ship USNS "2nd Lt. John P. Bobo".cite web|accessdate=2007-05-31
url=http://www.msc.navy.mil/inventory/ships.asp?ship=15&type=ContainerRollonRolloffShip
title=USNS 2nd Lt John Pl Bobo (T-AK 3008) Container & Roll-on/Roll-off Ship
title=Military Sealift Command Ship Inventory
publisher=United States Navy] Since 1985, the ship had been under long-term lease to Military Sealift Command from American Overseas Marine.cite web
accessdate=2007-05-31
url=http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/us-msc-buying-usns-2nd-lt-john-p-bobo-02962/
title=US MSC Buying USNS 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo
work=Defense Industry Daily
date=January 18, 2007] On January 16, 2007, the Military Sealift Command purchased the convert|673|ft|m|sing=on maritime prepositioning ship, USNS "2nd Lt. John P. Bobo".

The chow hall at the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School on Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia is named Bobo Hall in his honor.

Vietnam Wall

John Bobo's name is etched on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial ("The Wall") on Panel 17E, Row 070.cite web|accessdate=2007-05-31|url=http://www.mishalov.com/Bobo.html
title=Bobo, John |author=Mishalov, Neil|publisher=Mishalov.com] cite web|accessdate=2007-05-31|url=http://thewall-usa.com/info.asp?recid=4482
title=2Lt John Paul Bobo|work=The Vietnam Veterans Memorial
publisher=The Wall-USA]

ee also

*List of Medal of Honor recipients
*List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Vietnam War

Notes

References

:Marine Corps

*cite web|accessdate=2007-10-21
url=http://www.tecom.usmc.mil/HD/Whos_Who/Bobo_JP.htm
title=Second Lieutenant John Paul Bobo, USMC
work=Who's Who in Marine Corps History
publisher=History Division, United States Marine Corps

*cite web |accessdate=2007-05-31
url=http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4600&tid=200&ct=4
date=August 22, 2007
title="General characteristics, 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo Class", Maritime Prepositioning Ships - T-AK
work=The United States Navy — Fact File|publisher=United States Navy

*cite web|accessdate=
url=http://www.usmc.mil/moh.nsf/000003c919889c0385255f980058f5b6/000003c919889c0385255fa2005b97cb?OpenDocument
archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070111170634/http://www.usmc.mil/moh.nsf/000003c919889c0385255f980058f5b6/000003c919889c0385255fa2005b97cb?OpenDocument
archivedate=2007-01-11
title=Medal of Honor — 2dLt John P. Bobo (Medal of Honor citation)
work=Marines Awarded the Medal of Honor
publisher=History Division, United States Marine Corps

*findagrave|6680203 Retrieved on 2007-10-21

Persondata
NAME= Bobo, John P.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= United States Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient
DATE OF BIRTH= February 14, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH= Niagara Falls, New York
DATE OF DEATH= March 30, 1967
PLACE OF DEATH= KIA in Vietnam