VHS History Students Remember Sam Galloway
On January 31, 2024, students in the Dual Enrollment United States History class visited the Sam Harris Galloway Memorial at Vidalia High School. “Sammy” was a popular student at VHS, he was active in the Hi-Y Club, and he played center for the Indian football team. Sammy attended Auburn University, then volunteered for military service in the US Army, becoming a Second Lieutenant in the 101st Airborne Division. In December 1967, he was deployed for combat duty to the Republic of Vietnam. On January 31, 1968, during a fire fight near the Bien Hoa Province, Second Lieutenant Sam Galloway lost his life. He was (posthumously) awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the National Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Service Medal, and the Purple Heart. His Citation for the Distinguished Service Cross reads: “As the battle raged, several men in the platoon were hit and unable to protect themselves. Lt. Galloway moved forward and about the battlefield, disregarding personal danger, pulling and carrying wounded men to positions of relative safety, treating those who required immediate life-saving attention. While evacuating these threatened comrades, Lt. Galloway himself was wounded but refused evacuation, remaining with his men. As the battle grew in intensity, the field commander directed a limited withdrawal to permit the delivery of an airstrike on the enemy. Lt. Galloway, with total disregard for his own safety, moved from position to position alerting his men to the order. As the men pulled back, two were wounded by the accelerating rate of enemy fire. Lt. Galloway stayed with them, encouraging their movement to safety and personally providing protective fire and acting as a covering shield for the wounded men. It was during this selfless act, manifesting the greatest degree of loyalty for his men and extraordinary gallantry in close combat with the enemy, that Lt. Galloway was struck down.
Lieutenant Galloway's exceptional display of gallantry and devotion to duty, at the cost of his life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.”
Shortly after his death, his family, friends, and VHS classmates established the Sam Harris Galloway Memorial Scholarship in his honor. The scholarship is awarded to young men with background and character similar to Sammy’s, with the hope that they can be helped in a small, but important, way to achieve their goals.
When the new Vidalia High School was completed in 2018, a memorial to Sam Harris Galloway was arranged at the entrance of the 800 Hall. Displayed there is the flag that draped his casket, a rubbing of his name from the Vietnam War Memorial Wall, a picture of his grave marker at Arlington National Cemetery, and his military medals.
On January 31, 2024, fifty-six years after Sammy’s heroic death, students gathered to listen to the reading of Lt. Galloway’s official citation for the Distinguished Service Cross and to observe a moment of silence in his memory.
