Appalachian Figures
On a sharp bend of Kentucky Route 92 as it drops toward the Cumberland River, a green sign tells drivers they have entered the Joe C. Paul Memorial Highway. The words hurry past in the blur of the windshield. For most people, the name is only another roadside marker, one more reminder that Kentucky is thick with memorials to wars fought far from its hills.
For one retired Marine named Greg Sims, the sign raised a question that would not let him go. Who was Joe C. Paul, and why had this short stretch of blacktop through Williamsburg, the county seat of Whitley County, been named in his honor. That curiosity grew into years of research and local organizing, and eventually into a bronze historical marker on the lawn of the old Whitley County Courthouse honoring a young Marine from the Appalachian coalfields who died in a rice paddy near Chu Lai, Vietnam.
The name on the highway and the marker belongs to Lance Corporal Joe Calvin Paul, United States Marine Corps. Born in Williamsburg in 1946, raised in the coal camp community of Nevisdale and Gatliff, and later carried north in the great migration to Dayton, Ohio, he was only nineteen years old when he earned the Medal of Honor at Operation Starlite in August 1965.
From Gatliff Mountain to East Fifth Street
Official Marine Corps records give the bare outline of Paul’s early life. He was born on 23 April 1946 in Williamsburg, Whitley County, Kentucky, to Callie and Inez Paul. He finished grammar school in 1960 and attended one year of high school before enlisting.
Those dry details gain depth when read alongside the memory that survives in Whitley County and in Dayton. Backroads of Appalachia, which now operates the Joe C. Paul Medal of Honor Trail, notes that he grew up in the Nevisdale and Gatliff coal community along Kentucky Route 92, graduated from grammar school there, and spent most of his childhood in that narrow valley.
In 1952 the Paul family joined thousands of Appalachian families who followed jobs and opportunity into the industrial Midwest. Joe’s mother and father moved their children from Williamsburg to Dayton, Ohio, settling on East Fifth Street near Stivers High School. According to the Stivers Athletic Hall of Fame, Joe completed his freshman and sophomore years there, and the school remembers him today as a “Special Recognition” inductee whose story reaches far beyond sports.
The Stivers account, written by classmates and alumni, fills in the family circle. Joe had an older brother, James Edward, and a sister, Laura. From childhood, they recall, he wanted to be a Marine. By the time he was seventeen, he had his parents’ permission to make that childhood wish real.
That mix of roots is important. Paperwork would later list Dayton as his home of record, and Dayton newspapers would claim him as a Vandalia Marine. Yet the hills of Whitley County and the coal camps along 92 remained the landscape of his growing up, the place to which local organizers and motorcycle groups now ride when they talk about honoring “one of Eastern Kentucky and Appalachia’s true American heroes.”
Learning to be a Marine
On 26 April 1963, three days after his seventeenth birthday, Joe Paul enlisted in the Marine Corps in Dayton. He shipped west to Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego for basic training that summer. After graduation, he moved up the coast to Camp Pendleton for individual combat training with the Second Infantry Training Regiment, finishing in October 1963.
From there, the trajectory of his short career followed the wider arc of American escalation in Southeast Asia. He joined Company H, Second Battalion, Fourth Marines in Hawaii, part of the 1st Marine Brigade. He earned promotion to private first class in December 1963 and to lance corporal in October 1964, and he trained as a fire team leader.
In May 1965, as the United States shifted from advisory missions into direct combat, Paul deployed with Company H to Chu Lai on the central coast of South Vietnam. Marine Corps histories note that his battalion arrived on 7 May 1965.The young Appalachian who had left Whitley County for the gray neighborhoods of East Dayton now found himself looking out over rice paddies and tree lines on the far side of the world.
Operation Starlite: The First Fight
Operation Starlite, fought from 18 to 24 August 1965, was the first major offensive operation by an exclusively American unit in the Vietnam War and the first regimental sized battle for U.S. forces there.
Intelligence from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam indicated that the Viet Cong 1st Regiment was massing near the Van Tuong peninsula, close enough to threaten the Marine base and airfield at Chu Lai. Lieutenant General Lewis Walt and Marine planners designed a preemptive strike that combined an amphibious landing, helicopter insertions, and supporting arms.
Company H of 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, the company to which Joe Paul belonged, went into the operation as part of this force. In the words of one official Marine Corps monograph, Starlite was a “first fight” in many senses, from its amphibious landing on a hostile shore to its large scale vertical envelopment and the first clashes with Viet Cong main force units.
For many Marines on the ground, those big words boiled down to heat, confusion, and the rattle of incoming fire in the paddies near Chu Lai. It was in that setting, on 18 August 1965, that a nineteen year old from Whitley County made the choice that would define his life and his memory.
“Fully aware that his tactics would almost certainly result in serious injury or death”
The official Medal of Honor citation for Lance Corporal Joe C. Paul is one of the clearest primary windows we have into those minutes in the rice fields outside Chu Lai. The text appears in Marine Corps records, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s database, and on his headstone and memorial plaque in Dayton Memorial Park.
During the battle, Paul’s platoon was struck by what the citation calls “devastating” mortar, recoilless rifle, automatic weapon, and rifle fire from Viet Cong in fortified positions. Five Marines lay wounded forward of the platoon under that fire and were then hit again by white phosphorous rifle grenades.
It was at this moment that Paul made his decision. The citation records that he was “fully aware that his tactics would almost certainly result in serious injury or death,” yet “chose to disregard his safety and boldly dashed across the fire swept rice paddies,” placing himself between the wounded men and the enemy while firing his automatic weapon to draw the attack away long enough for the casualties to be evacuated.
The National Museum of the Marine Corps’ study “Joe Paul – Operation Starlite” adds detail to that official narrative. It notes that Paul used his weapon until he had to stop repeatedly to reload, was struck by enemy fire seven times, and still continued to fight until he collapsed from his wounds and was dragged back to cover. He was evacuated to a field aid station, then transferred toward a hospital facility, but he died in the early hours of 19 August 1965.
Some of the most powerful testimony about that day appears in modern retellings that are themselves grounded in the citation. Ghosts of the Battlefield, a public history project that has carefully reconstructed the event, describes five wounded Marines lying exposed in a rice paddy as mortars and automatic weapons hammered their position, and Paul sprinting alone into the open to stand between them and the entrenched Viet Cong. Even after he was critically wounded, they note, he refused to withdraw until his body could not continue.
In the end, several of his comrades lived because he chose to trade his chance at survival for theirs. It is not a complicated story. That is part of its force.
A Medal of Honor for a teenager
The Medal of Honor is the highest American award for valor in combat, and in the Vietnam era it was often presented months or years after the actions described. In Paul’s case, the process concluded on 7 February 1967, when the medal was posthumously awarded in Washington, D.C.
Marine Corps and Medal of Honor Society records agree that the ceremony took place in the office of Secretary of the Navy Paul H. Nitze, who presented the medal to Joe’s parents. Contemporary wire service coverage that ran in papers across the country reported on the presentation and repeated key phrases from the citation, bringing the story of the nineteen year old lance corporal from “Dayton, Ohio” to readers in places that had never heard of Nevisdale or Gatliff.
The Dayton Daily News, looking back decades later, emphasized his age. One anniversary feature noted that “many would consider him just a teenager, but he was a man,” quoting Undersecretary of the Navy Robert B. Baldwin, who also took part in honoring Paul’s parents.
The Medal of Honor was not the only recognition. His decorations included the Purple Heart, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with one bronze star, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. In 1970 the United States Navy named a Knox class destroyer escort USS Paul (DE 1080) in his honor. The ship was launched on 20 June 1970, reclassified as a fast frigate (FF 1080) in 1975, and decommissioned in 1992 after serving off Vietnam and later in the Persian Gulf.
Burial in Dayton, memory in two hometowns
After the war, Joe Paul’s body was returned to Ohio. He is buried in Dayton Memorial Park Cemetery, north of the city not far from Vandalia.
The National War Memorial Registry lists both a Medal of Honor memorial grave stone and a separate Medal of Honor plaque at Dayton Memorial Park that carry his citation text and identify him as a recipient of the Medal of Honor for actions near Chu Lai, Republic of Vietnam. Visitors enter the cemetery by way of Joseph Calvin Paul Memorial Boulevard, a dedication that appears in both the Historical Marker Database and the registry’s catalog of Medal of Honor plaques.
On the national level, his name is inscribed on Panel 2E, Line 63 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. The Virtual Wall and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s “Wall of Faces” project pair that inscription with photographs and remembrances. In one remembrance, a former Marine police officer recalls the honor of standing in his department’s honor guard as Paul’s grave was formally marked with a Medal of Honor headstone.
Those layers of commemoration mean that Dayton and its suburbs have every right to claim him as their own. Stivers celebrates him as a member of the Class of 1965. Vandalia newspapers tell his story as that of a local boy who saved five comrades in a battle that cost him his life.
Yet the story does not end in Ohio.
The Joe C. Paul Memorial Highway and the trail through Gatliff
In 2012 the Kentucky General Assembly passed House Joint Resolution 23, a wide ranging road naming resolution that included a specific Appalachian provision. Section 54 directed the state Transportation Cabinet to designate Kentucky Route 92 within the Williamsburg city limits as the “Joe C. Paul Memorial Highway” and to erect appropriate signs along that stretch.
A decade later, it was one of those signs that put Greg Sims, a retired Marine and newcomer to Williamsburg, on the road to deeper research. The news story he helped generate describes him noticing the highway plaque with Paul’s name, realizing he did not know who that was, and beginning an inquiry that would grow into the JC Paul Detachment 1448 of the Marine Corps League and, eventually, a permanent roadside marker on the courthouse lawn.
The Stars and Stripes report on the 2022 unveiling notes that family members and local dignitaries gathered in Williamsburg on 27 August to dedicate that historical marker, which summarizes Paul’s life from his birth in Whitley County through his actions at Chu Lai and his Medal of Honor. The marker stands within sight of the very courthouse where so many Whitley County residents have paid taxes, received marriage licenses, or stood jury duty, bringing the story into the center of local public life.
Backroads of Appalachia and the Whitley County Motorcycle Group have taken that commemoration one step further by tying it to the landscape that shaped him. Their Joe C. Paul Medal of Honor Trail is a 13.3 mile route that winds along Kentucky 92 and up Gatliff Mountain through the Nevisdale community where he grew up. The group’s description notes that the trail is their only route dedicated to a Medal of Honor recipient and that a portion of Kentucky 92 and a courthouse marker now bear his name.
In 2023 local leaders and Backroads riders launched fundraising for a permanent monument in Nevisdale or Gatliff, an effort covered by WYMT as a grassroots project to honor a Vietnam veteran from the coalfields who never came home. The coverage underscores the tension and pride that come with having a hometown son whose service record lists an Ohio address. As Sims explained, military records typically use the place where you enlist and your address at the time of death, and in Paul’s case that meant Dayton, even though his childhood and most of his life belonged to Whitley County.
That Appalachian insistence on claiming him shows up everywhere that locals talk about the trail. Harlan County promotional materials call him “one of Appalachia’s true American heroes” and frame the ride along Kentucky 92 as a way to honor both his coal camp roots and his service as a Marine.
A case study in Marine Corps memory
For the Marine Corps, Joe Paul’s actions have become more than a single story of individual heroism. The National Museum of the Marine Corps study describes his fight in the rice paddy as a textbook case of the traits Marines are meant to cultivate: justice, judgment, dependability, initiative, decisiveness, integrity, endurance, unselfishness, courage, loyalty, and enthusiasm.
That same study notes that the Corps has used his actions to illustrate key concepts in warfighting doctrine, including friction, uncertainty, fluidity, and the human dimension of combat. In professional military education materials, the name Joe C. Paul sits alongside theoretical language about “fog of war,” reminding Marines that these abstractions are rooted in real men making irreversible decisions under fire.
His story also appears in broader histories of Operation Starlite, including Colonel Rod Andrew’s official Marine Corps monograph “The First Fight: U.S. Marines in Operation Starlite, August 1965,” which treats him as one of two Medal of Honor recipients in that operation.
An Appalachian story of migration, war, and remembrance
Taken together, the records and markers that bear Joe Calvin Paul’s name tell a story that is bigger than one firefight, one medal, or one highway sign. It is an Appalachian story, rooted in coal camp roads along the Cumberland River, yet deeply entangled with the industrial neighborhoods of Dayton and the battle maps of Chu Lai.
Like many Appalachian families in the mid twentieth century, the Pauls left the mountains for factory towns along the Ohio River and beyond. Their youngest son carried that dual identity into the Marine Corps. His enlistment papers and headstone would tie him to Ohio. His grammar school diploma, his childhood churches, and the memories of older Whitley County residents would tie him forever to Kentucky.
The fact that his story has had to be reclaimed in both places says something about how easily working class Appalachian lives can slip from view. It took a roadside sign along Kentucky 92 and the curiosity of a retired Marine to connect the official record to the landscape where Joe Paul grew up. It took local riders, historians, and veterans to turn that connection into a trail, a marker, and a living memory that families can still visit and trace with their fingers.
Today, anyone who drives the Joe C. Paul Memorial Highway or rides the Medal of Honor Trail can follow the same valley roads that carried a boy from Gatliff toward adulthood. The view has not changed much since he left. Houses and churches still cling to the narrow shelf between hillside and creek. Coal trucks and motorcycles still grind up the grade toward the ridgeline. Somewhere below, in a paddy half a world away, the last few minutes of his life are preserved in official prose and in the memories of the men he saved.
Those records matter. The markers in Dayton and Williamsburg matter. But so does the simple fact that, when the question is asked in the hills where he was born, people are learning to answer it clearly.
Who was Joe Calvin Paul.
He was a coal camp boy from Whitley County, a Stivers sophomore from East Dayton, a nineteen year old Marine at Operation Starlite, and an Appalachian whose courage in a rice paddy near Chu Lai has become part of the region’s long, complicated story of service and sacrifice.
Sources & Further Reading
United States Marine Corps History Division, “Lance Corporal Joe C. Paul, USMC (Deceased) – Medal of Honor Citation” and associated biography, Marine Corps University. Official primary record of his service, unit assignment, and Medal of Honor award. United States Marine Corps University+2United States Marine Corps University+2
National Museum of the Marine Corps, “Joe Paul – Operation Starlite.” Internal leadership case study that reconstructs his actions at Chu Lai and places them in the context of Operation Starlite and Marine warfighting doctrine. National Museum of the Marine Corps+1
Congressional Medal of Honor Society, “Joe Calvin Paul.” Official Medal of Honor profile including citation, unit, and action details. Congressional Medal of Honor Society
House Joint Resolution 23, Chapter 153 Acts of the 2012 Kentucky General Assembly. Section 54 designating Kentucky Route 92 within Williamsburg city limits as the “Joe C. Paul Memorial Highway.” Legislative Research Commission+1
National War Memorial Registry and Historical Marker Database entries for Joe Calvin Paul. Includes listings for his Medal of Honor memorial grave stone, plaque, and the Joseph Calvin Paul Memorial Boulevard at Dayton Memorial Park Cemetery. HMDB+4National War Memorial Registry+4National War Memorial Registry+4
Backroads of Appalachia, “Joe C. Paul Medal of Honor Trail” and related promotional material. Describes the 13.3 mile route through Nevisdale and Gatliff and summarizes Paul’s life and honors in an eastern Kentucky context. Harlan County+3Backroads of Appalachia+3Backroads of Appalachia+3
Stivers Athletic Hall of Fame, “Joe Calvin Paul – Class of 1965.” Local biographical sketch detailing his family, move from Williamsburg to Dayton, school years, enlistment, and later honors including the USS Paul. Stivers Athletic Hall of Fame+1
KentuckyMarines.org (Marine Corps Coordinating Council of Kentucky), “Legend: Joe Calvin Paul (MOH).” State level profile situating him among Kentucky Marines and summarizing his actions during Operation Starlite. Marine Corps Council KY+2Marine Corps Council KY+2
Dayton Daily News, “On this date: Vandalia Marine saves 5 men in Vietnam battle, which led to Medal of Honor.” Anniversary feature recounting the Starlite firefight, the Medal of Honor, and the presentation to his family, and emphasizing his youth and local ties. dayton-daily-news
WYMT News, “Community raising money for Vietnam War veteran that died in the line of duty.” Coverage of fundraising in Whitley County for a monument along the Joe C. Paul Medal of Honor Trail and discussion of his Kentucky roots and Dayton enlistment. https://www.wymt.com
Stars and Stripes, “Vietnam veteran and Medal of Honor recipient honored with historical marker in hometown.” Report on the dedication of the historical marker at the old Whitley County Courthouse and the local effort that began with noticing the highway sign. Stars and Stripes
Rod Andrew Jr., The First Fight: U.S. Marines in Operation Starlite, August 1965 (Marine Corps University History Division). Official Marine Corps monograph on Operation Starlite, situating Paul’s actions within the larger regimental battle. navyhistory.org
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, “Wall of Faces: Joe C. Paul,” and The Virtual Wall, “LCpl Joe C. Paul, Dayton, OH.” Memorial entries with photographs, casualty information, panel location on the national memorial, and remembrances from fellow Marines. virtualwall.org+3Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund+3virtualwall.org+3
Ghosts of the Battlefield, “Medal of Honor, Joe C. Paul, Vietnam War, August 18, 1965.” Narrative retelling of the Starlite firefight grounded in the official citation and used here for additional descriptive detail and interpretive framing. Ghosts of the Battlefield+1