he'll receive his father's medal today. >> four heroes being recognized today. courtney kube, thank you so much. that wraps up the hour from me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can lulz reach me on twitter and instagram. follow the show online at jdbalart msnbc.com. andrea mitchell reports start right now. kicking off two hours of coverage this morning, a patriotic american tradition, fourth of july parade, now the scene of the tragic reality of america, a mass shooting with a high-powered military style rifle n. highland park, illinois, upscale town of 30,000 people a half hour north of chicago, a quintessential chicago that has been the

backdrop for movies like "home alone" and ferris buhler's day off. police say a gunman fired on people along the parade route from a rooftop. a barrage of bullets just after 10:00 a.m., causing spec to it tors, mostly families with children, both young and old, to scatter. right now officials say the victims range from 8 to 85 years old. five adults died at the scene, a sixth person later passed away at the hospital. witnesses describing chaos where strollers and belongings lay scattered on the streets that have become a crime scene. >> i picked up my kids and ran again, i put them in a garbage dumpster, and then i ran back to look for my partner and her daughter, and i saw people shot on the ground. >> all of a sudden, there was a stampede of people coming, and then i realized it was gunshots. i literally thought to myself, this is how it's going to end.

>> we hope to learn more about a man who they say has not been charged but is a person of interest. within eight hours after the shooting, a north chicago police officer spotted him, attempted a traffic stop, followed by a short pursuit. the video you see here appearing to show police taking him into custody. right now, according to the gun violence archive, there have been more than 300 mass shootings this year, we're only just halfway through the year. by the archive's count, at least more than a dozen so far just this month. today is only july 6th. highland park's mayor sharing this message -- july 5th, i should say -- this message earlier on "today" about gun violence here in america. >> this tragedy never should have arrived on our door steps. as a small town, everybody knows somebody who was affected by this directly. of course, we're all still reeling. i don't know where the gun came from, but i know it was legally obtained. i think at some point this

nation needs to have a conversation about these weekly events involving the murder of dozens of people with legally obtained guns. >> we're also watching the white house. in the next 15 minutes we'll see president biden award the medal of honor to four vietnam veterans including one posthumously. we'll take you there live once it starts. we start with the fourth of july parade shooting in highland park. joining us is nbc's shaquille brewster on the scene, investigative correspondent tom winter and jim cavanaugh, retired atf special agent in charge, now an msnbc terrorism analyst. shaq, talk to me about highland park today, the morning after. it's a crime scene. you still see things left behind. >> reporter: that's exactly right, andrea. about 24 hours since those first shots rang out in highland park, it's the feeling of anticipation as we wait to get an update from

local law enforcement that we expect to come within the next couple hours here. you see behind me the scene still feels very frozen. you see investigators working through, combing through that scene, we're about a block away from where the shooting took place. you also still see the chairs. you see the blankets, you see the decorations for the fourth of july holiday as people came out here to celebrate the day and to watch that parade before those shots rang out. you heard a little bit from the mayor there before who mentioned that the gun, based on the information she has, was obtained legally. i want you to listen to a little more of what she said on the "today" show this morning about how she knows the shooter and what she knows about that suspected shooter who currently called a person of interest. >> i don't believe he was previously known to police until yesterday. i know him as somebody who was a cub scout when i was the cub

scout leader. it's one of those things where you step back and you say what happened? how did somebody become this angry, this hateful, to take it out on innocent people who literally were just having a family day out. >> reporter: those are the questions that many people will be listening for later as we hear from local law enforcement. as far as the victims, we know six people lost their lives. more than three dozen hospitalized as a result of this shooting. according to the latest update we received this morning, there are about 12 victims waking up, at least 12 victims who woke up in the hospital this morning. you have members of the community calling for prayers for those still recovering. we know the community, the city is offering counseling services because it's not just the physical trauma and the physical recovery that many people have to go through, but the hundreds of people there, scattered, fleeing for their lives, a lot of mental trauma and recovery

needed for another community that is shattered by gun violence, andrea. >> tom, what do we expect to hear from law enforcement? at some time today they're going to have a briefing perhaps midday. what do we know about this person of interest who was apprehended. explain to our viewers the difference between a suspect and a person of interest. >> right, andrea. a person of interest has different -- tip think we refer to a person of interest as someone police want to speak to. it's possible that individual might be connected to a specific crime or they might want to question that individual. sometimes it has very distinct legal connotations. in new york city, for instance, the police department doesn't call somebody a suspect until, in fact, they are, and typically not up until arrest. that's just for very technical legal reasons. there are a couple of different reasons why they would do it. look, the bottom line is this. they said yesterday at the press conference they believe this

person, robert "bobby" crimo is, in fact, the shooter. i would expect today at that briefing that shaq allowed to that they'll get some sort of charges. we know he was born in september of 2000, had that honda that you're looking at there that apparently -- that matches a photo -- that car matches a photo we were given by the fbi yesterday, that he was somebody who fled after that incident. we know that police -- north chicago police officer saw the vehicle, called it in. it was a short pursuit and they were able to put him into custody. so that's what we know as far as what happened yesterday. he left behind his rifle at the scene. as you said, the mayor says the rifle was legally purchased. that makes sense. he was of age and there's no felony convictions we can have in his criminal record and none that police have spoken about that would be some sort of a trip wire as far as a legal

purchase. our colleague pete williams pulled up the local law which bans assault rifles. it's a mice mean nor in highland park. if he turns out to be the shooter and was charged clearly was bent on breaking more than that particular law yesterday. he has a considerable online presence, talking social media accounts, youtube, spotify. said at one point he was an aspiring rapper. we have our colleague ben collins who will be joining us to go into those details. at this point we've received no indication -- it's still early in the investigation. i hasn't been a full 24 hours since this shooting occurred at approximately 11:14 yesterday morning eastern time. we have no indication so far this is a hate or bias crime. that's important because the highland park community has a significant jewish faith population. on top of that, we haven't heard he has any ties to domestic or

foreign terrorist organizations. obviously a number of concerning posts. it would be interesting to know if anybody ever called law enforcement before and if not, why not. >> jim, let's talk about the law enforcement response. obviously police were there because it was a parade. i assume they were not in tactical gear, how do you deal with a sniper? what was the response as far as you can tell? >> well, it looked pretty good from what i could tell. the bicycle officers were moving around pretty quick on the ground trying to locate the shooter. this often happens when shots ring out. you don't know where the shots are coming from. when you're in a situation on a city street like that with two and three-story buildings, you're going to get echoes. when you watch the video, you'll hear the echoes. the officers quickly locate the shooter and start moving toward the building. of course, he escapes. as tom said, he dropped the rifle and escaped. he leaves it at the scene which is huge evidence.

i would note, andrea, he has tattooed on his temple the number 47. so it wouldn't surprise me if this turns out to be an ak-47 rifle. gang members often tattoo that number on to represent that rifle. sometimes theta too ak-47. an ak-47 would do that kind of damage and be able to shoot that rapidly. it's an assault rifle. it's just the soviet bloc version of the ar-15. i would expect this afternoon to see a warrant, maybe a warrant for one murder, good strong case they have where they've done ballistic matching. i would expect one strong warrant to get a high bail to hold him. >> is it unusual to leave the rifle behind? >> it's very unusual. you know, when i first heard that report, i immediately thought of lee harvey oswald.

in my office in dallas, atf used to be down the street from the depository, i've gone up there many times as a history buff and criminal buff -- my degree is criminology. i studied that case. oswald left the rifle, his fingerprints were all over it. when this guy left the rifle, that's the first thing i thought of. then "usa today" reported yesterday that on his wall, he had a picture on his internet feed of something taped on his wall, and it was about lee harvey oswald. a slow moving motorcade or parade in front of him, shooting from an elevated position and leaving the rifle there, maybe he's glorifying that on the internet. that's his mental connection for murder. >> i've had another texas thought which is charles whitman. >> yes. >> another sniper. also joining us is nbc news

senior reporter ben collins. pick up on that, on what you know about him from the internet and your study. >> reporter: yeah, he is a student of a lot of mass murder. that's what this person was. it's very clear this is over a long period of time. this is a much dumber conclusion to come to at the number 47, but it is possibly true, there is a video game called hit man. the primary character in that is agent 47. it's a guy who was a sniper from a rooftop. that's the kind of culture he was in on the internet. he was deeply into the culture of glorifying mass murder. also, in these spaces they talk about kill counts in the way you would talk about kill counts in a video game. that's the sort of spaces he was in. in january he put out a music

video under this rapper name awake, where he was dropping -- literally physically dropping bullets inside a classroom that he had presumably shot up in this music video. there's a graphic cartoon depiction of him getting in a shootout with the police afterwards. this was a guy who had studied and was deeply obsessed with the culture of mass shootings that has propped up on the internet over the last couple years. this is called doomerism, it's accelerationism, but on the internet. this is not divorce to politics. these people traditionally come from far right spaces on the internet. they believe there's a helplessness in american society, that we cannot stop, we cannot -- that individually they are helpless in american society, and they turn to the culture of mass shooting. that's absolutely where this person was on the internet.

bobby crimo was making art, terrible art, but art about mass shooting as part of a larger aesthetic that exists on the internet, a larger group that exists on the internet. is it a terror cell with a name like isis? no. that's the culture of irony that exists on the internet. this is a new kind of terror and we have to get used to it because it keeps happening. it's been happening basically since 2018 when we saw a string of a chan shooters try to copycat one another going back to new zealand christchurch shooter. we're in a new reality where is the kind of terror we have to deal with and confront. if not we're going to wake up every new holiday or every other saturday and this is going to keep on happening. >> we're going to talk about this next hour, the legal ramifications. what is the red flag law, what

does the internet -- how are people not awake and alert to this and what can be done legally? tom winter, ben collins, jim cavanaugh, thanks to all of you, and shaq brewster. i want to turn to schick sun times lynn suite who was at yesterday's parade in highland park. lynn, tell me, you were there, had family there. tell me about the parade and your reaction as a human being and a reporter. >> hi, andrea. as a human being i attended this fourth of july parade in highland park. i've been here many, many years. i wasn't raised here, i was raised in chicago. my sister has lived here for a number of years. just to set this up, i was at the very beginning of the parade at the east end of it. i didn't hear the shots. as i was standing by the floats and the marchers waiting to go, and as the float started going,

i saw a sea of people running towards me. clearly something was wrong. i asked one person was going on. they said a sheert and ran into an underground concrete garage. i got a sense that something horrible was surprising part o reason was there are so many law enforcement people here just to helpfully patrol the parade, and we had a lot of personnel from the highland park fire department here as with any fourth of july parades, you bring out the fire engines and run the sirens in what was supposed to be, but whatnot, a day of celebration. >> you wrote about someone you know, a friend whose rabbi wrote

about this, a small community, very tight knit, 30,000 people. talk to me about the way the community or families are reacting. >> the community from that synagogue, north shore congregation israel is having a service tonight. i believe some other churches and other faith groups in highland park are having services. people are reacting. i would say stage one, let me just get out of this scene. so terror. clearly people got it real quickly that this was a live shooting incident. that's why they ran. andrea, they left everything behind. this morning i saw fbi agents picking through the things thou they were several blocks away from where the shooter was staging themself above a store. so that is a moment frozen in time. now i think today for some people, maybe shock. i know some people, from reports

we have and reports at the chicagotimes.com, everybody processes this differently. the people knew someone who was wounded and people who had people in their family who died or knew someone, this is a tragedy that goes beyond words or anything we can even talk about today. >> lynn, our best to you and your sister and her family and other people in the community. thanks very much for jumping in. i know this has been a horrible, horrible 24 hours. we expect to learn a lot more about this investigation at a press conference at noon eastern today. we'll be bringing that to you live. up next, what we learned about the victims of the highland park shooting and how the community is coming together. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. s "andrea mitl s "andrea mitl reports" on msnbc.

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the victims of yesterday's

shooting in highland park, illinois, range from young children to grandparents. medical director with north shore medical group said yesterday they treated 25 people with gunshot wounds, 19 were released, but some who remain are in critical and serious condition. four or five of them were children. highland park's mayor saying this earlier on today. >> i never thought i would be one of those mayors. none of us think we would be one of those mayors. whether it's buffalo, new york, whether it's uvalde, texas, whether it's highland park, illinois, this is unbelievable to me that this is an acceptable part of who we are as a nation. >> joining us, nbc's kathy park outside a hospital where more than two dozen victims were treated, and mark claxton, director of the black law enforcement alliance and retired nypd detective. let's start with mayor rotering of highland park. there doesn't seem to be a place

or an event where this can't happen. we had shootings at the celebration, the concert in philadelphia yesterday, the mayor there just beside himself. said he looks forward to the time when he's not the mayor because he's up every night thinking where is it going to happen next. >> andrea, this type of tragedies, answers are nowhere around. there are no definitive clear-cut answers or things to make it make sense because it doesn't make sense. what is required is a deeper dive into the pathology of these domestic violent extremists. what's the cause and effect, what makes them tick, and then devising strategies if it's possible to mitigate or minimize the risk that they pose in

society. one thing for sure like so many of the programs for alcoholism and drug addiction, there's a requirement that we first acknowledge that there is a clear problem, there is an issue, societal issue in involving this level of violence and those domestic violence extremists. that's the first step in devising a plan that could minimize -- because you can't eliminate this type of madness. >> marq claxton, i want to echo what the mayor said. she said let's start with the guns. they had an assault weapon ban in that city, but that's not going to change anything because it was legally purchased somewhere and he was of age. you start with these military weapons. all societies have people with alcohol, other kinds of addictions, and all people have -- all societies have

people with mental health, but they don't everywhere in the world have military weapons available to people, legally available. >> i think we're at the point where we have to really be honest about it and recognize that there is no appetite for any serious, significant and substantive reform of guns and gun laws around the nation. there are political forces at play here that will die before they will allow there to be any significant, substantive change in the gun laws and access to these weapons, and the fact is that they're out there already. millions and millions of these weapons are out in society already. so let's examine cause and effect pathology along with -- and i agree on working on

legislation that could at least have some control over the amount of firearms in society. >> point well taken. kathy, let's talk about the victims. how many are still being treated? what do you know about those still in the hospital. >> reporter: andrea, we are in front of highland park hospital. the majority of the victims were actually taken here yesterday. according to the latest update, we know two people are still being treated at this location. we know several other patients are being treated at area hospitals. andrea, i think it's important to note just kind of the proximity of this hospital to the actual crime scene. the parade route is less than a mile away from where we are. as you know, we've been talking to folks on the ground. we're roughly a day into this massacre and now we're hearing stories of survival and heroism, even young kids jumping in to

help. take a listen. >> there was another little boy who maybe was 7, and he was by himself and another little boy of about the same age came over to him and said what's your name. his name is blake. that little boy said blake, run, come with me. the little boy's family took blake and they ran. >> reporter: the lake county coroner's office says they will be releasing names of the victims at some point today or early tomorrow morning. nbc news has been able to confirm some of the victims, one of them being nicholas toledo. he's 76 years old. he recently moved from mexico to the highland park area at the urging of his family members who wanted a better life for him. he had some mobility issues. according to "the new york times" he was in a wheelchair when he was watching the parade when the barrage of bullets came

falling down onto this packed crowd. he was sitting between his son and his nephew when he was shot. so we have some more information on that individual. another person is jacki sundheim. she is a longtime member of a local synagogue here, the north shore congregation synagogue. she is being remembered for her hard work, her warmth and her kindness. but andrea, it certainly is a dark day here. it's -- people have a heavy heart. i think they're still shocked because this is a celebration, right, july 4th. they were anticipating, looking forward to this event, especially after the last two years of the pandemic, they had a reason to celebrate and then their lives were torn and placed upside down. andrea. >> the irony of moving from mexico to find a safer place in highland park, illinois, in the united states.

kathy park, mark claxton, thanks to both of you. a handwritten play, detained wnba superstar brittney griner has written directly to president biden asking for his help to get her out of a russian jail. her emotional plea coming up. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. s"andrea mitc s"andrea mitc reports" on msnbc. but even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past they may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. although uncommon, all the vaccines your teen might need make sure you ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination. ♪ ♪ aleve x. its revolutionary rollerball design delivers fast, powerful, long-lasting pain relief.

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detention for 4 1/2 months accused of carrying vape cartridges with cannabis oil in her luggage. there's no presumption of innocence in russia. she is all but certain to be found guilty. joining us is nbc white house correspondent mime memoli. what are you hearing from the white house? any reaction to this letter being delivered? >>. >> reporter: andrea, the pattern and practice of the biden administration for any individual who is wrongfully detained, more accurately being held hostage in a situation like brittney griner in russia is to avoid commenting publicly frequently out of concern it would only raise the stakes for any potential negotiation. in response to this letter yesterday directed to the president, the white house through the national security council, issued a statement simply repeating this is a priority of the administration, that they're working closely with their special envoy for hostage affairs. national security adviser jake

sullivan has engaged. it's con speck shows, the approach from the white house when you you have a wnba all-star, gold medalist, something with a very high profile. it's interesting to see what is something of a change in tactics on the part of her family, and i think it's based on what we saw happen in another recent example with trevor reed. i was traveling with the president when he went to texas, when the family tried to get a meeting with the president that day when he was in ft. worth. he ultimately spoke with them by phone, but later, as they engaged in some sort of public pressure campaign on the white house, they eventually did get a meeting. we saw that that led to ultimately securing trevor reed's release. this seems to be sort of a page from this playbook as griner's family is raising their own public pressure campaign on the white house in the hopes that it leads to more engagement on the

part of the white house. we'll see if we get more of a response from the administration today when we hear from the white house press secretary or perhaps even from the president later today. >> our thanks to mike memoli. joining us is retired add midterm james stavridis. admiral, i know you know how high the stakes are and the relationship between putin and the white house, the u.s. and nato. what the official media in russia says they want trade for victor boot, the notorious arms trader, terrorist, 25-year sentence, jailed, convicted in the u.s., and that's very high price, some would argue, for the president to pay, but sharell greiner is telling people they

spoke with trevor reed's family, met with trevor reed's family, and they know the only way to get anything done, a trade done which is what was done for trevor reed, is to go to the president. when the president finally gave in, it was when the family protested outside the white house and they got to see the president and got it done. that's what this is all about. you're the president. would you try to trade for paul whelan, another detainee? there are three now including brittney. >> let me start by saying, boy, am i glad i'm not the president. these are very, very hard decisions. point one, we're seeing putin essentially turn russia into a terrorist state that takes hostages. i think that's pretty clear what's going on here. secondly, heed the warnings of our state department. now is not a good time to be traveling to russia for any reason. frankly, i would foresee more of this. thirdly, as you mentioned, there are a number of americans held

globally right now. right there in russia, of course, is paul whelan, a former marine, also swept up under extremely questionable circumstances. in terms of what the president needs to do, point one, i would assure any family that the administration is 100% seized with this. i say that from personal experience. when i was commander u.s. southern command, we had three americans held hostage by a terrorist group. the whole administration down to myself at southern command woke up every morning thinking about how we could get them out. this has everybody's attention as well it should. in terms of the actual negotiations going forward, i think the administration will look at all the options. they'll try and engage, try and put pressure on putin and his regime. at the same time they might offer some additional carrots.

we'll have to wait and see. those are hard calls for jake sullivan and the president. >> admiral stavridis, thank you so much. i know you'll understand. we're going now to the white house where the president is taking part in the awarding of the medal of honor ceremony to four vietnam war veterans, one posthumously. >> staff sergeant kaneshiro continued to serve with his unit in vietnam until he was killed in action by hostile gunfire on march 6, 196. today his memory lives on in the lives he saved and the legend of his fearlessness and the hearts of the family he left behind. john, naomi, tom, thank you for being here today, and thank you, too, for your sister doris as well who could not be with us. john, thank you for your military service. your family sacrificed so much for our country.

i know that no award could ever make up for the loss of your father, for not having him there as you grew up, but i hope today you take some pride and comfort in knowing his valor is finally receiving the full recognition he's always deserved. january 31, 1968, it was an opening assault that would come to be known as the at the time tet offensive. north vietnam forces launched an attack on a strategically located air base near saigon. specialist 5 dwight birdwell responded. unknown to the 100 men in c troop, they were moving to take on the vietcong, more that than 1,000 strong. the troop engaged forces.

specialist birdwell's unit took the brunt of the attack with many tanks and vehicles disabled. when his tank commander was hit and gravely wounded, specialist birdwell got him to a place of safety and then took command. he knew his vehicle was on the first line of defense, so birdwell stood in his commander's hat at times, at times standing entirely out of the tank, fully exposed, laying down suppressive fire on the enemy. he used the tank's cannon, the machine gun, his personal rival. he sustained fire, drove back attackers and created a place of relative safety for injured men behind the tank to take cover. he provided battlefield updates to the commanders until the enemy shot the communication system right off his helmet. when he ran out of ammunition, he ran to retrieve an m-60 machine gun and ammo off the helicopter that had been downed

in a flight to keep firing on the enemy. even when that m-60 was hit by enemy fire causing it to explode and send shrapnel into birdwell's face, chest, arms and hands, he remained on the battlefield. when he was ordered to load onto the medevac helicopter, he complied. this i find amazing, only to crawl right back off the other side and to keep on fighting. that's what you call taking orders and causing trouble. god love you. only after reinforcements arrive and after he helped treat the evacuees, his fellow wounded, did specialist birdwell agree to evacuate himself. at the time he received a silver star for outstanding heroism on the battlefield. it took decades for his commanding officer, then general glenn otis, to realize that birdwell had not received the full honor he earned. in retirement general otis made

sure to correct the record and fully document birdwell's actions to make this day possible. a member of the cherokee nation, he credits the cherokee veterans that came before him. i might note, native american communities, a larger percentage serve in the united states armed forces at a higher percentage rate than any other cohort in america president than any other cohort in america. after leaving the ar many he built a legacy of service in his community in oklahoma. he started his own law firm, served 12 years on the cherokee nation supreme court and he passed that legacy of service down to his daughter stephanie who is with him today, who serves as the director of the office of tribal relations at the department of veteran affairs. thank you, thank you, and to your wife virginia, who i know wishes she could be here with you today, give her our love as

well. i'm grateful for all you've given to our country and at long last, at long last your store i have is being honored as it should have been always. february 18, 1971, special 5 dennis fujii was sering a second tour in vietnam kicked off the rescue operation in laos. they were there to evacuate wounded military personnel. as their chopper attempted to land, it became the target and they crash landed in the middle of the conflict. when a second american helicopter managed to land minutes later, able to evacuate everyone except fujii. he waved off the hell cop tefr, told them to depart, remaining behind as the only american on the battlefield. several attempts were made to

rescue him before specialist fujii could find a radio and call off further attempts. he stayed behind, ignoring his own wounds while helping attend the wounded vietnamese allies on the field. the next night, the enemy force renewed their assault with heavy artillery. for more than 17 consecutive hours specialist fujji called in american gun ships. repeatedly exposing himself to hostile fire in order to better oben me positions and direct air strikes against him. on the radio fellow americans knew him as pappa whiskey, clear-eyed, level-headed soldier. they were able to drive back the forces that had come within 15 to 20 meters of a friendly camp. when an american helicopter was finally able to retrieve him, wounded and severely fatigued

two days after his air ambulance crashed, he made it only about four kilometers before it crash landed. specialist fujii had to wait two more days for another south vietnamese base before he was able to leave the area and receive the medical assistance for his wounds. speaking to the press shortly after his experience, specialist fujii down played his own contributions and honored the skills of the allied vietnamese troops he fought with simply saying, quote, i like my job, i like to help other people who need help out there. amazing. today specialist 5 fujii, we remember and we celebrate how many people you helped. i want to thank you and your wife ray who couldn't be with you today and your brother edwin for all your family has done for this nation. we will forever honor your commitment to your crew, your allies and to your country.

april 14, 1972, the battle of fire support base charley, loan lone american on the base was major john duffy. they called him dusty cyanide. that was his call name. in those days leading up to april 14th, the battalion command post had been destroyed. major duffy had already been twice wounded, refusing evacuation. efforts to resupply the base had failed. fsb charlie was surrounded by the battalion-sized element. for hours american gun ships guided by dusty cyanide took air strikes on enemy positions. major duffy repeatedly exposed himself to danger in order to direct the gun ship's fire and keep the battalion from being overrun. he even called in one strike, extreme danger close to his own position in order to drive back

the advancing attack. when he was wounded again, he again refused evacuation. he worked side-by-side to organize the defense of the base with the vietnamese commander, major miley who is here today. major, where are you? major, thank you for being here. thank you for your service. [ applause ] it's an honor to have you here. when they finally had to abandon the base, major duffy volunteered to cover the retreat. when the withdrawing soldiers were ambushed early on april 15th and many of the injured troops scattered, major duffy remained with those who were wounded, rallying them to make it to an established evacuation despite being constantly pursued by the vietcong. upon reaching the ex-filtration

site, major duffy again made sure he was the last to board the helicopter. finally the air ship was ready to depart, one of his vietnamese allies was shot in the foot, causing him to fall backwards out of the helicopter. duffy ca dragged him back in on board with them. saving one more life along the way. major duffy served until 1977, completing three tours in vietnam, numerous special forces assignments and 20 years of service to our country. he went to a successful career as and author. was nominated for a pulitzer prize for poetry. he is the definition of a warrior poet. devotion to those he served with and those who serve our nation still. thank you, major duffy, for all that you have inspired in others. as commander in chief, i know this is not only for those who

wear the uniform, it's your families as well. so mary, thank you for all that you sacrificed over the years as well. to marcus and judd, i want to emphasize what you already know. your grandpa is a hero, flat out, unadulterated hero. thanks to individual dedication of those who served with them. because of a congressionally order review, to make sure we properly honor the contributions of asian americans and pacific islanders and their service they have made over the years. we did a similar view of world war ii rewards,resulting in 22

awards who previously been under recognized, including a close friend of mine, danny anoway. i want to thank the members of congress who helped make this possible and ensure the united states lives up to our promises that for those who give their best for our country, we will always, always give our best to you. i want to take a moment to recognize three other medal of honor recipients, awarded for their heroic actions in vietnam who are with us today. walter morin. where are you? walter. [ applause ] james mccluin. [ applause ] and brian factor. [ applause ]

thank you for being here to help us recognize these newest honorees. i want to note that last week we lost a giant in this community. her shell woodie williams, the last medal of honor recipient of world war ii. honored by president truman for his valor during the battle of iwo jima. he will soon lie in honer in the united states capitol. his passing is a reminder of what so many americans of our greatest generation sacrificed to preserve lib irty, democracy and for our nation and for the world. now it's my great honor to ask for the citations to be read and we award the medal of honors to the late staff sergeant, specialist birdwell, specialist fujii, and major john duffy.

thank you all. may god protect our troops. thank you. [ applause ] >> you have done interviews with these gentlemen. the extraordinary service that is being honored today. it's just breathtaking, their tourage. >> it is. to hear president biden read each individual scenario is remarkable. what we are seeing right now is edward kenashiro, he was killed in vietnam several months after the battle. that's his son john, who is receiving his medal on behalf of his father. john was 4 months old when his dad was killed.

he never knew him. then his mother, the widow went on to raise the five kids as a single mom. john went into the army. he served for more than 20 years in the military following in his father's footsteps. i was fortunate to speak with him and his older sister, who was 8 when her father was killed and remembering the u.s. olders coming to their door to notify their mom that he had been killed in vietnam. remarkable service here. these are four different men, four different soldiers who served in four different battles. in fact, different years in vietnam. today, they come together. they are honored for the one thing that they all had in common. that was, in their battles, they time and time again put themselves in mortal danger to protect their fellow soldiers. it's the one thing that they all have in common, whether it was edward or major duffy, both of whom refused to leave their

fellow soldiers as they were under fire from the enemy. today all being recognized. they will be in the history books now today. >> where do you find such good men? it's extraordinary. in the u.s. military. in a few minutes, we are expecting officials to hold a news conference on the latest information from the highland park attack. law enforcement officials will be with us. more on that investigation coming up after this break. we'll be right back. investigatn investigatn coming up after this breakant, especially as you age. i noticed after kids that my body totally changed. i started noticing a little pudge. so i took action! we' some common side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort and swelling. you've come this far... coolsculpting takes you further. visit coolsculpting.com (grandmother) thank you for taking me home.

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welcome back to a special edition of "andrea mitchell reports." we are awaiting an update on the tragic mass shooting at the highland july 4th parade. six people are dead, two dozen injured after a gunman armed with a high-powered rifle opened fire from a rooftop on people celebrating in an upscale small community north of chicago. >> you hear people screaming, bodies down, bodies down. >> i saw people on the ground. >> i ran with my daughter. she was scared. i was trying to find a place to hide with her. >> the person of interest in custody is 21-year-old robert crimo iii. he has a history of posting violent videos about shootings. the rifle they