Medal of Honor recipient Col. Lewis Millet, USA, (Ret) a veteran of WWII, the Korean and Vietnam wars, receives a commemorative photograph from Brig. Gen. James D. Thurman during the US Army's 226th Birthday Celebration at Fort Irwin, CA. (DoD photo)

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in Vietnam Magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

Colonel Lewis Lee Millett is a combat-decorated veteran of three wars: World War II, Korea and Vietnam. On February 7, 1951, then Captain Millett earned the Medal of Honor for leading two platoons in a desperate and savage bayonet charge to the top of a windswept, fortified Chinese-held hill in Korea. He made five combat paratroop jumps in his career and is the first officer ever to rappel from a hovering helicopter. He is the founder of the Army's Recondo Schools.

His family has fought in many of this nation's wars and ­conflicts, going back to 1675 when an ­ancestor died during an Indian ­massacre in Massachusetts Bay Colony and up to 1985 when his youngest son was among 347 Mideast peacekeepers killed in a plane crash in Newfoundland.

Lewis Millett joined the National Guard in 1938 while still in high school, because he wanted to fight. When war broke out in Europe in 1939 and President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated, "No American boys would be sent to fight in any European wars," Millett deserted and joined the Canadian Army. He was sent to Britain, where he received intensive commando training that would later prove pivotal to his career. When the United States entered the war in 1941, Millett went to the U.S. Embassy in London and rejoined the United States Army. He served with distinction in the 1st Armored Division in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. When his court-martial papers for desertion finally caught up with him, he had already earned a battlefield commission and several decorations for bravery. The papers were quickly torn up and forgotten. When World War II ended, Millett temporarily left active duty, only to rejoin the National Guard.

With the outbreak of the Korean War, Millett was transferred to the 25th Infantry Division's 27th Infantry Regiment, the "Wolf­hounds," where the wheels were set in motion that would lead to the Battle of Bayonet Hill and the awarding of his Medal of Honor. During that action, the Chinese soldiers were routed by American troops using seemingly outmoded bayonet-fixed rifles. Even though he was wound­ed during the assault, Millett refused to be evacuated until the hill had been made secure.

Colonel Millett went to Vietnam in 1960 and set up Ranger schools there. After graduating from the Command and General Staff School and the Army War College, he returned to Vietnam in 1970 as adviser to the II Corps Phoenix Program.

Millett retired from the U.S. Army in 1973. Now 86 years old, he recently spoke to Vietnam Magazine about his experiences in three wars.

Vietnam Magazine: On that hill in Korea in 1951, of all the weapons to use in a close assault upon a fortified enemy position, why use fixed bayonets?

Lewis Millett: The Chinese said that we Americans were afraid to use the bayonet, so I said, "I'll show them!" I had the local Korean women sharpen our bayonets razor sharp on their grinding wheels, and we practiced bayonet drill techniques and hand-to-hand combat several times a day. I told the men that the next time we went into battle, we'd be attacking using fixed bayonets, and we did.

VM: What was your estimation of General William Westmoreland as a combat leader?

LM: I think he was a fine general. It was General Westmoreland who wanted me to organize the Recondo School after observing a raid that I led while still Stateside during a field training exercise. The idea was to provide advanced training to give the average soldier the knowledge to perform in the field at a level far above what they had learned in basic training and infantry school. Westmoreland said that most platoons didn't know how to patrol correctly, so we started training the squad leaders first and then moved on from there. That's how Recondo School got started.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to