24 Distinguished Service Crosses Upgraded to Medals of Honor
Twenty-four U.S. Army veterans from three wars – World War II, Korea and Vietnam – who previously received Distinguished Service Crosses (DSCs) for their actions have now had those DSCs upgraded to Medals of Honor, our nation’s highest valor award.
In a White House ceremony held March 18, 2014, President Barack Obama presented the Medals of Honor to former Sergeants Santiago J. Erevia, Melvin Morris and Jose Rodela in recognition of their courage above and beyond the call of duty during the Vietnam War. He also presented posthumous awards to the family members and representatives of the 21 deceased Soldiers for their brave actions in World War II, the Korean War or the Vietnam War.
More than a decade ago Congress mandated in the Defense Authorization Act a review to ensure that the heroism of veterans was not overlooked due to prejudice or discrimination. During that review, the 24 Soldiers – Hispanic, Jewish and African-American – were identified as deserving of the Medal of Honor.
“This ceremony is 70 years in the making, and today we have the chance to set the record straight,” said Obama during the ceremony. “This is the length to which America will go to make sure everyone who serves under our proud flag receives the thanks that they deserve. So with each generation, we keep on striving to live up to our ideals of freedom and equality, and to recognize the dignity and patriotism of every person, no matter who they are, what they look like, or how they pray.”
One at a time, the president invited the living recipients onto the stage, where the citation was read, the Medal of Honor was draped around the neck, and handshakes were exchanged. Family members, friends and representatives of the deceased recipients were also called to the stage to hear their respective Soldiers’ citations read aloud.
“These are extraordinary Americans. They are exemplary Soldiers,” said Obama. “Santiago Erevia, Melvin Morris, Jose Rodela – in the thick of the fight, all those years ago, for your comrades and your country, you refused to yield, and on behalf of a grateful nation, we all want to thank you for inspiring us – then and now – with your strength, your will, and your heroic hearts.”
Obama added, “It is very rare where we have the opportunity to reflect on the extraordinary courage and patriotism of such a remarkable collection of men. We are so grateful to them, we are so grateful to their families, it makes us proud and it makes us inspired.”
– From an article by J.D. Leipold, Army News Service.
Medal of Honor for Afghanistan Combat
On May 13, 2014, former Army Sergeant Kyle J. White became the seventh living recipient of the Medal of Honor for combat actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. White received America’s highest valor award for his heroism above and beyond the call of duty in a November 9, 2007, combat action in Aranas, Nuristan province, Afghanistan, while he was a member of 1st Platoon, Chosen Company, 2d Battalion, 503d Infantry Regiment, 173d Combat Brigade (Airborne).
On that day in 2007, White was serving as platoon radiotelephone operator as part of a contingent of 14 U.S. military personnel and a squad of Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers meeting with local residents in the village of Aranas. Suddenly, White said, “There was one shot, down into the valley, and then it was two shots, and then it was full automatic fire and RPGs … coming from multiple directions.” He recalled, “An RPG hit right behind my head and knocked me unconscious … it was just lights out. When I woke up, I was facedown on a rock.”
White soon realized that 10 of the 14 men in the American element and the ANA soldiers were gone. With no cover, the remainder of the patrol had been forced to slide more than 150 feet down the side of a rocky cliff. The only ones remaining up top were Specialist Kain Schilling, 1st Lieutenant Matthew Ferrara, Marine Sergeant Phillip A. Bocks, the unit interpreter and White.
White saw that Schilling had been shot in the upper right arm and was running toward some shrubs and a single tree. White ran to the tree and applied a tourniquet to Schilling’s wound, but he soon discovered that his radio had been destroyed.
Bocks, who was badly wounded, was lying in the open about 30 feet from the tree. White recalled, “I knew he needed help and there was a lot of fire coming in … but by then I already had known, ‘Well, we’re not gonna make it through this one; it’s just a matter of time before I’m dead.’ I figured, if that’s going to happen, I might as well help someone while I can.”
White sprinted to his wounded comrade as rounds skipped around his feet and snapped past his head. He made it to Bocks unscathed but saw that the man’s wounds were severe. “At that time, I can remember thinking [Bocks] wasn’t going to make it, but I knew I wasn’t going to stop trying,” said White. “No matter what the outcome, I’m going to do what I can with what I have.”
White grabbed the back of Bocks’ vest and began pulling the Marine toward cover. He soon realized that the enemy was now shooting directly at him, further endangering Bocks, so he ran back to cover, waited until the fire died down, and then ran back out again. White repeated this process four times, until Bocks was finally under cover. Schilling later said, “I can’t even describe how intense [the fire] was. That’s what amazed me, how [White] went to get Bocks so many times – faster than a speeding bullet. He’s definitely lucky and so am I.” Although White tried to bandage Bocks’ wounds, the Marine succumbed to his injuries.
White then saw that Schilling had been hit again, this time in the left leg. Pulling his belt from his uniform, White used it as a tourniquet. He then noticed that his platoon leader, Ferrara, was lying facedown on the trail. Again exposing himself to enemy fire, White crawled to Ferrara’s position. The lieutenant, however, was already dead, so White moved back to Schilling and began using the specialist’s radio – until an enemy round blew the mic out of his hand.
White moved back to Bocks and found his radio still operational, so he contacted friendly elements, rendered a situation report and requested mortars, artillery, airstrikes and helicopter gun runs to keep the enemy from massing on friendly positions.
Eventually, after nightfall, a medevac helicopter arrived, and White assisted the flight medic in hoisting the wounded (including two ANA soldiers he also had treated) aboard it. Only then did White allow himself to be evacuated.
Five American Soldiers and one Marine died during the Battle of Aranas, which White and Schilling say they will never forget. Each of the surviving Soldiers wears a stainless steel wristband with the names of those who didn’t come home: 1st Lieutenant Matthew C. Ferrara, Sergeant Jeffery S. Mersman, Specialist Sean K.A. Langevin, Specialist Lester G. Roque, Private 1st Class Joseph M. Lancour, and Marine Sergeant Phillip A. Bocks.
White left the Army in July 2011 and used his GI Bill to attend the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he earned a bachelor’s degree. Today, he works as an investment analyst at the Royal Bank of Canada in Charlotte.
– From an article by J.D. Leipold, Army News Service.
Unconventional Weapon: OSS .22-Caliber T1E1 Stinger Gun
Well before the invasion at Normandy, Allied strategists placed covert operatives in German-held France to assist the “Maquis” – guerrilla fighters in the French Resistance. Their mission was to disrupt enemy lines of communications and supply before, during and after Allied operations on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
The French partisans who supported the Normandy landings were trained by Allied “Special Operations and Special Operations Executive” (SO/ SOE) operatives and by Jedburgh teams. (SO was a branch of the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, while SOE was a British organization.) Operation Jedburgh, which began before the Normandy landings, placed three-man teams (an American or British officer, a French officer, and an enlisted radio operator) behind enemy lines with the objective to organize, train and later lead the Maquis in battle against the Germans.
French resistance to German occupation came in various organized forms. Soldiers of the Maquis were known as “Maquissards” that belonged to, among other organizations, the Gaullist Armée Secrète, also called the Corps Franc de Tulle. They wore the arm brassard with the Cross of Lorraine of the Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur. Together with the Communist Francs-Tireurs et Partisans, the resistance numbered about 8,000 semi-armed fighters. It had major centers of activity in and just southwest of the northern city of Caen.
William Joseph “Wild Bill” Donovan, a U.S. Army World War I veteran, was appointed to head the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the World War II precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency. OSS activities created a steady demand for devices and documents that could be used to trick, attack or demoralize the enemy. Without much cooperation and support from other agencies, and with private corporations unwilling to undertake low-volume but highly specialized work, Donovan enthusiastically promoted an in-house capability to fabricate the tools the OSS needed for its clandestine missions. By the end of the war, OSS engineers and technicians had formed a collection of labs, workshops and experts that occasionally gave the organization a technological edge over its Axis foes.
A good example was the .22-caliber T1E1 Stinger gun, which could be worn in a shirt pocket and looked like a simple writing instrument. Measuring only 3.5 inches in length, .5 inch in diameter, and weighing a mere ounce, the Stinger “pen” gun was an easily concealed one-shot weapon suitable for short ranges. It could be fired from the palm of the hand at a person sitting in a room or passing in a crowd. It was factory loaded and meant to be discarded after one use. It was also inexpensive, available in large quantities and easily distributed in enemy-occupied countries.
This T1E1 Stinger Gun is part of the U.S. Army Core Collection held at the Museum Support Center at Fort Belvoir, Va.
– Submitted by Colonel (Ret.) Robert Dalessandro and Dieter Stenger, Curator, U.S. Army Center of Military History.
For information about the National Museum of the U.S. Army, slated to open in 2019, visit armyhistory.org.
In Flanders Fields
As gust 2014 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I, we offer this fitting tribute to ACG commemorates the Authe tens of millions of soldiers in all armies who died or were wounded or reported missing in action in 1914-18. Canadian army Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae (1872-1918) composed this powerfully moving poem on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of a friend who was killed during the Second Battle of Ypres.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
2014 Armchair General Award Winner
On behalf of ACG Publisher Eric Weider and Editor in Chief Jerry Morelock, William Clements, Dean of the Norwich University College of Graduate and Continuing Studies, presented the 2014 Armchair General Award to Norwich University history student Parker Carroll during the 19th annual William E. Colby Military Writers’ Symposium (norwich.edu/colby). Each year since 2007, ACG has recognized an outstanding Norwich history student with a cash award (matched by the university) to help fund the student’s continuing studies in Norwich’s acclaimed Master of Arts in Military History program (militaryhistorydegree.com/gen).
Carroll, a senior from West Chester, Pa., is majoring in history with a minor in psychology. He recently worked on an Honors History Project on the legacy of the use of airpower in the Spanish Civil War. After completing his graduate studies at Norwich, Carroll intends to pursue a career as an essayist and journalist.
Hosted by Norwich, the Colby Symposium is a unique program that brings influential writers to the campus for lectures and panel discussions to educate, inspire and enlighten Norwich students, faculty, alumni and the public through the works and views of authors, historians, journalists and national figures. For more information on the 2014 symposium, read Colby Symposium Executive Director Carlo D’Este’s article at tinyurl.com/ colby2014.
– Submitted by Lindsay Cahill Lord, Special Projects Coordinator, Norwich University.
National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial
As the beginning of the World War I centennial arrives, we at ACG can’t think of a more appropriate travel destination than the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial. Located in downtown Kansas City, Mo., it is a “must-visit” site for anyone interested in learning more about the 20th century’s first global conflict.
In 2004, Congress designated the facility as the nation’s official World War I museum. After an extensive renovation project, a new 80,000-squarefoot state-of-the-art exhibit area opened in 2006 to national acclaim. Since then, over a million visitors have toured the museum, and scholars have taken full advantage of the extensive holdings in the Edward Jones Research Center located beneath the exhibit complex.
The National World War I Museum is a nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring all who served in the war by maintaining the Liberty Memorial as a symbol of their courage and sacrifice; interpreting the history of World War I to encourage public involvement and informed decision-making; providing exhibitions and educational programs that engage diverse audiences; and collecting and preserving historical materials to share with the public the stories of World War I through the eyes of those who lived it.
For more information, including hours of operation, or to make a tax-deductible donation to support this outstanding organization, visit theworldwar.org
Originally published in the September 2014 issue of Armchair General.
