Ballard enlisted in the
United States Navy in 1965. After he completed navy recruit training and Hospital Corps School, he decided that he wanted to serve as a
hospital corpsman with the
United States Marine Corps and was sent to a Field Medical Service School. After he completed the course there, he was sent to Vietnam in 1967. Ballard was assigned as a navy corpsman with M Company,
3rd Battalion,
4th Marine Regiment,
3rd Marine Division in
Quang Tri province, in
South Vietnam. On May 16, 1968, Ballard treated two Marines suffering from heat exhaustion, and when returning to his platoon from the casualty evacuation helicopter pad, his rifle company was attacked by a unit of
North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers. While under enemy fire, Ballard was attending to a wounded Marine when an enemy grenade landed near the wounded Marine, four other Marines, and himself. He immediately covered the grenade with his body to shield the five Marines from the blast. Realizing that the grenade failed to explode, he quickly threw it out of harm's way as it exploded, saving the Marines and himself from harm or death. He then continued on attending to wounded Marines during the firefight. For his actions, he received the United States of America's highest military decoration for valor, the
Medal of Honor. After having left the navy the previous year, Ballard received the Medal of Honor from President
Richard M. Nixon and General
William Westmoreland in 1970. ==United States Army==