National Affairs: Seven Young Men

Rain dripped steadily from the north portico of the White House, the Army band sounded ruffles and flourishes as. promptly at noon. President Eisenhower strode on to the porch. Around the necks of seven stiffly uneasy Korean war veterans, the President clasped star-spangled blue ribbons from which hung the nation’s highest military award: the Medal of Honor. The language of the citations told of deeds of steel and fire and unyielding spirit.

ARMY SERGEANT HIROSHI H. MIYAMURA, 27, a Nisei, of Gallup, N. Mex.: “. . . Wielding his bayonet in close hand-to-hand combat, killing approximately ten of the enemy . . . bayoneted his way through infiltrated enemy soldiers to a second [machine] gun emplacement and . . . killed more than 50 of the enemy . . .”

ARMY” IST LIEUT. JAMES L. STONE, 30, of Pine Bluff, Ark.: Although wounded three times, he continued to fight until his platoon was overwhelmed. Even then, “his voice could still be heard faintly urging his men to carry on, until he lost consciousness.”

ARMY MEDICAL SERGEANT DAVID B. BLEAK, 21, of Shelley, Idaho: Entered a trench, killed two enemy soldiers with his bare hands and a third with his trench knife, shielded another U.N. soldier from a grenade blast, and evacuated a wounded companion. “As he moved down the hill with his heavy burden, he was attacked by two enemy soldiers with fixed bayonets … he grabbed them and smashed their heads together.”

MARINE TECHNICAL SERGEANT ALFORD LEE MCLAUGHLIN, 25, of Rome, Ga.: “. . . Although painfully wounded, he bravely fired the machine guns from the hip until his hands became blistered . . . accounting for an estimated 150 enemy dead and 50 wounded.”

MARINE PFC. ROBERT ERNEST SIMANEK, 23, of Detroit: “Determined to save his comrades when a hostile grenade was hurled into their midst, he unhesitatingly threw himself on the deadly missile, absorbing the shattering violence of the exploding charge in his own body and shielding his fellow Marines from serious injury or death.”

MARINE IST LIEUT. RAYMOND G. MURPHY, 23, of Pueblo, Colo.: “. . . Wounded a second time … he again refused medical assistance until assured that every one of his men . . . had preceded him to the main lines.”

MARINE IST LIEUT. GEORGE H. O’BRIEN JR., 27, of Corpus Christi, Texas: “Although shot through the arm … he proceeded to hurl hand grenades into the bunkers and, utilizing his carbine to best advantage . . . succeeded in killing at least three of the enemy . . .”

Although Medal of Honor awards for other Korean war veterans are still being processed in the Pentagon, Dwight Eisenhower expressed his deepest hopes when, speaking of the seven heroes, he said: “And now, instead of leading at battle, they must lead toward peace. They must make certain that no other young men follow them up these steps to receive the Medal of Honor.”