A U.S. Navy corpsman received a military decoration for helping rescue a Marine who became dangerously ill from high temperatures, according to the Marine Corps Reserve.
Hospital Corpsman Petty Officer 1st Class Billy Bui, of the 4th Marine Division, provided life-saving assistance in August 2024 to an unresponsive Marine at Camp Talega on Camp Pendleton, California. He was awarded a Navy Achievement Medal for his actions.
Bui was participating in daytime land navigation practice when a distress call came over the radio at the combat operations center.
“We’ve got to stop,” a voice from the radio said. “We need Bui out here now.”
Bui hopped in a Humvee, was driven to the crisis location and jumped out of the vehicle, stretcher in hand. He ran up a hill, where he found an unconscious Marine.
Several Marines hovered over the service member, who they’d already stripped to cool his body temperature.
Bui noticed the Marine’s tongue was in danger of blocking his airway, so he instructed another Marine to insert a nasal pharyngeal airway – a tube to help prevent the tongue from obstructing breathing – as they carried the Marine down the hill on the stretcher.
The Humvee raced back toward base as Bui placed ice all over the Marine’s body to fight the heat.
“Don’t go into the light,” Bui said, as the Marine’s body battled what he would later discover was an internal body temperature of 106 degrees Fahrenheit, or a heat stroke.
Eventually, the Marine was handed over to Camp Pendleton paramedics who helped medically evacuate the service member on a helicopter.
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Several days later, Bui learned the Marine had survived.
“Doc, I remember hearing you the whole time,” the service member later told Bui. “I couldn’t move, but I knew you were there.”
Bui applauded his training for putting him in a position to help the Marine.
“If you’re not consistently drilling and staying sharp, those skills can slip, and in medicine, that can mean doing more harm than good,” he said. “Training ensures we’re ready and up to date with the latest techniques.”
Bui also reflected about the generational tenacity and sense of duty that were passed down to him by his grandfather – traits that prepared him for that moment, according to a Marine Corps Reserve press release.
Several decades earlier, as the Vietnam War ended and Americans exited the country, Bui’s grandfather – a captain in the Republic of Vietnam army – racked his brain for a way to flee and take his family to the United States.
His grandfather boarded a small fishing boat with his family and traveled into the Pacific Ocean, their future unknown. With food and water about to run out, their fishing boat fatefully crossed paths with the U.S. Navy frigate USS Hepburn.
In an effort to gain their attention, his grandfather poked holes in the boat, causing it to sink.
The method worked, and the Navy ship rescued them and brought them aboard.
The family punched their ticket to America and said goodbye to Vietnam forever.
“He did everything he could, fighting for his country, and he instilled in me a sense of duty to my country,” Bui said. “It’s a sense of individual sacrifice.”
Riley Ceder is a reporter at Military Times, where he covers breaking news, criminal justice, investigations, and cyber. He previously worked as an investigative practicum student at The Washington Post, where he contributed to the Abused by the Badge investigation.
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