LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The city's annual Veterans Day Parade is happening Saturday Nov. 9, and WHAS11 is a proud partner in the event that'll take over Jefferson Street in downtown Louisville.
This year's Grand Marshal is Don "Doc" Ballard. He's a retired colonel of the Kansas National Guard and former member of the United States Navy. As a hospital corpsman in the Vietnam War, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in 1968.
"I bought the medal at Walmart," Ballard joked.
All jokes aside, the story behind that medal is nothing short of extraordinary.
"It doesn't say anywhere on the medal, that you have to be smart. And I wasn't. But I was caring, you know? I tried to protect the guys," Ballard said.
It was May 16, 1968. An enemy unit ambushed Ballard's company as they were already providing aid to the injured.
"They started shooting at us, and they threw grenades in on us, like a fish bowl, you know. All of a sudden they had a collection of guys in one spot. So, they started throwing hand grenades," Ballard said.
Ballard rushed to help an injured Marine, when the first grenade hit.
"It hit me in my helmet. It fell right by my legs, and I looked down, and I said, Boy, I gotta get rid of this thing. I picked it up and I flung it out of the bomb crater," Ballard said.
Then came the second one.
"I knew we were all going to die. I felt that in my mind, and I was able to, you know, react," he said. "I lunged for it. I was on my knees. I had to literally jump for it, and grabbed it and pulled it up under my chest."
The grenade didn't go off. Ballard says divine intervention saved countless lives in that moment, and he was the only witness to what happened next.
"I rolled over and I flung that thing as hard as I could, and it went off in the air, and it didn't kill anybody, and of all the Marines, there was no witnesses that day that saw me throw it away. They all saw me jump on it, but no one saw me throw it away," Ballard said. "And that's how I earned the Medal of Honor."
President Richard Nixon awarded Ballard the medal in May 1970. He also received the Purple Heart.
"I was just doing my job, you know, but they saw that it was above and beyond what they expected me to do - but I just did the best I could for the people that I was serving and serving with," Ballard said. "The love is what caused me to do what I did."
Ballard left the Marines and joined the Kansas Army National Guard, where he served for 30 years.
Help all of our veterans feel appreciated for the parade on Saturday, Nov. 9, at noon in downtown Louisville. If you can't make it there, wave them on, as their convoys depart from four locations. Check out the routes here.
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