GREENSBORO, N.C. — Chances are, you don't recognize his face but you know his name! This is Lawrence Joel, as in Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Check out the video LJVM tweeted out, it shows the coliseum today, and in the past, as well as pictures of specialist Lawrence Joel.
He was originally from Winston-Salem and here’s his story:
November 8, 1965: His unit in Vietnam was ambushed. Joel was hit twice by machine gun fire, but as a medic he bandaged his wounds and then went on to help save members of his unit.
He became the first medical aidman to get the Congressional Medal of Honor and the first living African American to get the award since the Spanish American War. The coliseum was dedicated to him in 1989.
