Mitchell Red Cloud Jr.: Korean War Hero

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By November 2, the north bank of the Chongchon River was held by the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade and the 19th Infantry Regiment of the 24th Division. The two units were separated by a five-mile gap, supposedly patrolled constantly. On November 5, the Chinese began probing the U.N. forces’ defensive line, evading patrols and moving freely through the gap.

Warnings of the Chinese habit of attacking at night fell on deaf ears in many of the U.N. units. On the night of November 5, the Chinese followed field telephone lines that led to C Company of the 19th Infantry. Many of the Americans were caught and killed in their sleeping bags. Nearby, entrenched on Hill 123, E Company of the 19th was trying to hold its section of the Chongchon River line. Fortunately for that company, Corporal Red Cloud had heeded the warnings and stayed awake.

Quietly, about 1,000 infantrymen of the Chinese 355th Regiment infiltrated between the 2nd Battalion and the 27th Commonwealth Brigade. Red Cloud was positioned in a forward observation post at a point immediately in front of the E Company command post. From there, he was able to detect the Chinese when they launched their assault at about 3:20 a.m., under a nearly full moon. As the enemy charged from a brush-covered area, less than 100 feet from him, Red Cloud gave the alarm to his fellow soldiers. Then, grabbing his Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) and springing up from his place of concealment, Red Cloud emptied magazine after magazine into the charging Chinese troops at point-blank range. “His accurate and intense fire checked this assault and gained time for the company to consolidate its defense,” his citation read, also noting that even after he was shot twice in the chest and his assistant BAR man was killed, “With utter fearlessness he maintained his firing position until severely wounded by enemy fire.”

Perry Woodley, the 2nd Platoon medic, rushed to Red Cloud’s foxhole and applied field dressings to his wounds. As Woodley went off to treat others on the hill, he could hear the bark of a BAR resume behind him. Red Cloud was hit again and called for aid. Woodley found him badly wounded and tried to get him off the hill, but Red Cloud refused further medical help and told Woodley to concentrate on getting the other wounded men to safety. “Corporal Red Cloud pulled himself to his feet,” the citation continued, “and wrapping his arm around a tree, continued his deadly fire again, until he was fatally wounded.” Under his covering fire, the rest of E Company began a fighting retreat from the hilltop to fortified positions 1,000 yards south of Hill 123. Red Cloud was reportedly struck by as many as eight bullets before dying. When his comrades went to retrieve his body the next day, they found “a string of dead Chinese soldiers” in front of him.

Red Cloud’s selfless and heroic act stopped the Chinese from overrunning E Company’s position and gained valuable time for reorganization and the evacuation of the wounded. In April 1951, at a ceremony at the Pentagon, in Washington, D.C., Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud Jr. was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, which was presented to his mother by General Omar N. Bradley. In 1955, Red Cloud’s remains were returned from the U.N. cemetery in Korea for burial, in accordance with the ancestral custom of his people, in Wisconsin.

On November 5, 2000, the 50th anniversary of Red Cloud’s death, the U.S. Department of Defense, Korean War Commemoration Committee, paid a visit to Black River Falls in the Ho-Chunk Nation. There it presented the Republic of Korea War Service Medal to his daughter, Annita Red Cloud.

Perhaps the most notable recognition given to Red Cloud for his deed besides the medal itself took place on August 7, 1999, when members of the Ho-Chunk Nation, along with dignitaries from the U.S. Army and Navy, stood on a dock in San Diego, Calif., for the launching of USNS Red Cloud, the fourth of seven Strategic Sealift Ships built since 1993 and named after Medal of Honor recipients. Among the attendees for the launching was Annita Red Cloud and Tris Yellowcloud, his granddaughter. Also present was Kenneth Kershaw, a member of E Company, 19th Infantry, who was on Hill 123 that morning. Kershaw expressed the simple essence of why he was there to honor his comrade: “If it were not for the alarm sounded by Mitchell Red Cloud, I would not be here today.”

This article was written by Dana Benner and originally published in the June 2006 issue of Military History magazine. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Military History magazine today!

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Tags: Historical Conflicts, Korean War

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