New partnership provides $100,000 scholarship fund for Middle GA college students
Schools, nonprofits and a veteran organization have joined forces to honor Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Rodney Davis with $100,000 scholarship fund.
1/5 Vietnam Veterans, the Community Foundation of Central Georgia, Bibb County Schools and Central Georgia Technical College (CGTC) announced the new scholarships for local high school graduates last week.
Pleasant Hill’s Davis joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1961 and was deployed to Vietnam in 1967. A month later, his platoon was pinned down in a trench by the North Vietnamese. A grenade landed in the trench and Davis immediately jumped on top of it, saving his fellow soldiers. Davis was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. A U.S. Navy frigate, the “USS Rodney M. Davis,” was named in his honor.
“I just want to express my gratitude to the Vietnam veterans. Those men and women have been dynamic in really honoring the legacy of Sergeant Davis who’s our own local hero here in town,” said Julia Wood, vice president of development and donor services at Community Foundation of Central Georgia.
This is the second scholarship from the Sgt. Davis Foundation.
“And so we’re excited about this new partnership and the second scholarship with the Central Georgia Technical College foundation so that we can support students who want to go to technical college as well,” Wood said.
In 2012, 1/5 Vietnam Veterans established a college scholarship fund at the Community Foundation of Central Georgia to support JROTC cadets from Bibb County high schools.
They’ve awarded more than $50,000 in scholarships to students from Bibb County Public Schools.
“The purpose of the fund is to provide funding to Central Georgia Technical College’s foundation for students scholarships in memory of Rodney Davis. Ronnie is the only Medal of Honor recipient in Bibb County, ever, ever. It is our goal that Rodney’s sacrifice not be forgotten,” said Dale Greene with the 1/5 Vietnam Veterans Association.
This story was originally published March 14, 2022 at 2:40 PM.