Many Medal of Honor recipients come from humble beginnings, but perhaps none more so than Army Staff Sgt. Clifford Chester Sims, who spent much of his early life with nowhere to call home. Sims grew into a humble and thoughtful man, so when an explosive device threatened his fellow soldiers in Vietnam, he didn’t hesitate to give his life to save theirs.
Sims was born June 18, 1942, in Port St. Joe, Florida, as Clifford Pittman. He was orphaned at an early age and sent to live with his stepfather’s family, according to an account from his wife, Mary, in a 2015 The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper article out of Clarksville, Tennessee.
However, that family already had many children, so Sims decided he wouldn’t stay. To get by, he either spent the night with acquaintances or in an old, abandoned bus shelter in Panama City, Florida, The Leaf-Chronicle article reads.
At age 13, however, the young man was adopted by James and Irene Sims and took their family name. Through all that adversity, he continued his education and made it to high school, where he became inseparable from his girlfriend, Mary. They married on Christmas Day 1961, just a few months after he enlisted in the Army.
Sims initially served with the 82nd Airborne Division. In 1965, the unit was sent to the Dominican Republic to protect American interests there during the country’s civil war.
Once Sims returned to the U.S., and as the Vietnam War was escalating, he was transferred to the 101st Airborne Division, where he was assigned to Company D of the 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment — known as the Delta Raiders.
Shortly before Sims was deployed to Vietnam in late 1967, he and his wife adopted a young daughter, named Gina, who was born to his wife’s sister.
Sims was not in Vietnam long before the Tet Offensive began, when North Vietnamese troops and their Viet Cong sympathizers flooded into South Vietnam in an onslaught that caught American and South Vietnamese troops off guard.
While U.S. and South Vietnamese troops were able to retake most of the territory the enemy had taken rather quickly, the fight over Hue City — known as the Battle of Hue — led to weeks of urban combat. That is where Sims gave his last full measure of devotion
On Feb. 21, 1968, Sims’ squad was assaulting a heavily fortified enemy position in a densely wooded area when they came under heavy enemy fire. Sims furiously led his squad in an attack against their aggressors, helping free a platoon that had been pinned down and nearly overrun.
Sims was then ordered to move his squad to provide cover fire for the company command group while linking up with another platoon that was under heavy enemy pressure.
After they had moved about 30 meters, Sims noticed that a brick building stocked with ammunition was on fire. An explosion was imminent, so Sims immediately moved his squad away from it, but not before the stockpile blew and injured two of his squad’s soldiers. Still, Sims’ prompt actions kept more people from getting hurt.
The squad continued through the dense woods while under fire. As they neared a bunker, they heard a noise no one ever wanted to hear — the sound of a hidden booby trap being triggered.
Without hesitation, Sims quickly yelled a warning and threw himself on top of the device as it exploded. He sacrificed his life so his fellow soldiers could live.
“Sims saved the lives of at least three of his squad and two of the company headquarters by absorbing the shock of the blast himself,” Sims’ commander, Army 1st Lt. Cleo Hogan, later wrote in an eyewitness statement. “Sims made the greatest sacrifice a soldier can make … and no mark of tribute can be too great.”
For his valor, Sims’ wife and daughter received the Medal of Honor from Vice President Spiro Agnew during a White House ceremony on Dec. 2, 1969.
Three other men also received Medals of Honor for their actions during the Battle of Hue: Army Staff Sgt. Joe Ronnie Hooper, Marine Corps Sgt. Alfredo Gonzalez and Army Chief Warrant Officer Frederick Ferguson.
Sims is buried in Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, Florida.
His name has not been forgotten. A state veterans nursing home in Springfield, Florida, and the garrison headquarters building at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, are both named in his honor. And since 2019, the Florida county where Sims grew up has celebrated every June 18, his birthday, as Clifford Sims Day.