Richard Shea received the Medal of Honor for actions on 7 and 8 July 1953 as an Army first lieutenant and acting company commander at Pork Chop Hill, Sokkogae, Korea during the Korean War. He first studied in uniform at Virginia Polytechnic Institute at the height of World War II, but left early to join the US Army in 1944. Wounded he refused evacuation. US losses were 104 dead, including 63 in the 31st Infantry with only seven survivors, 31 in the 17th Infantry and 10 among engineers and artillery observers, and 373 wounded. Despite heavy losses, the hostile force pressed the assault with determination, and at dawn made an all-out attempt to overrun friendly elements. He set seven Academy records in indoor and outdoor track and field and established a meet record in the 2 miles (3.2 km) run at the prestigious Penn Relays in 1951. Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, Company A, 13th Engineer Combat Battalion, 7th Infantry Division, Place and date: Near Sokkogae, Korea, 8 to July 10, 1953, Entered service at: Boise, Idaho. Kern at 23:00 then ordered Company E, 17th Infantry (1st Lt. Gorman C. Smith), to move up to reinforce Company F. Smith, to avoid the bulk of the artillery fire, moved around the right flank of the hill and up the side facing the PVA positions.[4]. Medal of Honor Action Place: Pork Chop Hill, near Sokkogae, Korea Citation 1st Lt. Shea, executive officer, Company A, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and indomitable courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. Turning down the opportunity to attend the Olympic Games, after graduating in 1952, he joined his classmates in the Korean War. The PVA command authorized the April attack to demonstrate that agreement in contentious negotiations did not equal unwillingness to continue fighting, if necessary. Calmly moving among the men, checking positions, steadying and urging the troops to hold firm, he fought side by side with them throughout the night. Out of 257 men, he was one of the few survivors in the initial stages of that engagement and received a battlefield commission as second lieutenant. He ran his first competitive race at VPI. From 29 December 1952, it became part of the US 7th Infantry Division's defensive sector. Pork Chop Hill was among several exposed hill outposts along the UN Main line of resistance (MLR) that were defended by a single company or platoon positioned in sand-bagged bunkers connected with trenches. Fighting outnumbered, he voluntarily proceeded to the area most threatened, organizing and leading a counterattack. [4], The opposing forces in this sector were roughly equal in size, the 7th Division (Major General Arthur Trudeau, commanding) totaling 11 infantry battalions (including attached battalions from Colombia and Ethiopia), a battalion of armor, and 6 battalions of artillery, while the PVA forces totalled 12 infantry, 10 artillery, and the equivalent of one tank battalion. Shea was an All-American in track and was said to have been the greatest track star to attend West Point. One of the West Point Black Knights' most celebrated distance runners, Dick Shea captured Heptagonal and IC4A individual cross country titles in three successive years (1949–51), helping Army to three straight team "Heps" titles during that time. Both armies (Corps-equivalent units) were part of the 13th Field Army commanded by General Deng Hua, who was also deputy commander of PVA forces in Korea. Entered service at: Portsmouth, Va. Born: January 3, 1927, Portsmouth, Va. 1st Lt. Shea, executive officer, Company A, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and indomitable courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. The timely counterattack by Company E, 17th Infantry caught the PVA by surprise on their flank and ended the organized assault. [4][6], Company K (1st Lt. Joseph G. Clemons) and Company L (1st Lt. Forrest J. Crittendon), 31st Infantry, in reserve behind the MLR, were ordered to counterattack and began their attack at 04:30 on 17 April. Company K, 31st Infantry had incurred 125 casualties, including 18 killed, of its original 135 men. [4], Both the UN and the PVA had used military operations to gain leverage or make political statements relevant to the armistice negotiations since early 1952. [3] It was taken again in May 1952 by I Company of the US 180th Infantry Regiment. He saw action during the famous Battle of Pork Chop Hill. A fresh battalion, the 2nd Battalion of the 17th, counter-attacked and re-took the hill, setting up a night defensive perimeter. The 1st Battalion of the 21st Thai Regiment attached to the US 2nd Infantry Division defended the position in November 1952. The attack caught both companies amidst the rotation. Each used a heavy preparatory artillery barrage to force the defenders to take cover in bunkers and to screen the approach of the attacking troops. A 1959 movie, Pork Chop Hill, based on S.L.A. He was killed in action July 10, 1953 and is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii. Elsewhere in the sector, other positions were attacked, pressuring the entire 7th Division. Company B of the same regiment, in ready reserve behind the adjacent Hill 200, was immediately ordered to assist, but within an hour, Company A reported hand-to-hand combat in the trenches. Daniel Dwain Schoonover (October 8, 1933 – July 10, 1953) was an enlisted soldier of the United States Army during the Korean War and a posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor at the Second Battle of Pork Chop Hill. On 8 July, the enemy attacked again. At dawn of 8 July, the rain temporarily ended and the initial defenders were withdrawn. The UN won the first battle but the Chinese won the second battle. Although wounded in this action, he refused evacuation and continued to lead the counterattack. Place and date: Near Sokkogae, Korea, 6 to 8 July 1953. During the early morning of 18 April, the PVA 201st Regiment renewed its attack at 01:30 and again inflicted heavy losses on the defenders, nearly overrunning Company F in battalion strength. Two days of stiff resistance by the maimed and battered B and C Companies failed in retaking the hill due to the failure of the 31st Regiment Command to send reinforcements, causing the UN to order its abandonment. Leading a counterattack, he killed three enemy soldiers single-handedly. Parts of four companies defended Pork Chop under a storm of artillery fire from both sides. In the ensuing bitter fighting, he killed two of the enemy with his trench knife. In 1987, Shea was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. He was listed as missing in action on July 8, 1953 during the Second Battle of Pork Chop Hill, and was later declared killed in action. 163 of the dead were never recovered. The Battle of Pork Chop Hill comprises a pair of related Korean War infantry battles during April and July 1953. The first battle on Pork Chop Hill occurred near Operation Little Switch, the exchange of ill and injured prisoners-of-war scheduled for 20 April. Born: October 8, 1933, Boise, Idaho, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, List of Korean War Medal of Honor recipients, United States Army Center of Military History, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Daniel_D._Schoonover&oldid=915379324, United States Army Medal of Honor recipients, American military personnel killed in the Korean War, Korean War recipients of the Medal of Honor, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the United States Army Center of Military History, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 12 September 2019, at 22:12. In over 18 hours of heavy fighting, he moved among the defenders of Pork Chop Hill organizing a successful defen… [8] In addition the UN forces employed on-call, pre-registered defensive fires called flash fire to defend its outposts, in which artillery laid down an almost continuous box barrage in a horseshoe-shaped pattern around the outpost to cover all approaches from the PVA side of the main line of resistance.[4]. The second battle involved many more troops on both sides and was bitterly contested for five days before UN forces conceded the hill to the Chinese forces by withdrawing behind the main battle line. The 141st Division renewed attacks in company strength at 03:20 and 04:20, but did not gain further ground. His Medal of Honor was presented to his widow at the parade grounds of Fort Myer, Virginia by Secretary of the Army Robert T. Stevens on May 16, 1955. Fighting outnumbered, he voluntarily proceeded to the area most threatened, organizing and leading a counterattack. The 300 meters (984 ft)-high hill, which was so-named because its topographic shape vaguely resembled a pork chop,[2] was first seized by the US 8th Cavalry Regiment in October 1951. Despite additional wounds, he launched a determined counterattack and was last seen in close hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. 1st Lt. Shea's inspirational leadership and unflinching courage set an illustrious example of valor to the men of his regiment, reflecting lasting glory upon himself and upholding the noble traditions of the military service. The hill was now held by Company A, 17th Infantry, under the temporary command of 1st Lt. Alton Jr. McElfresh, its executive officer. By dawn they reached the main trenches on top of the hill but suffered almost 50% casualties, and half of Company L's troops had not been able to leave the trenches of an adjacent outpost, Hill 200. When the assaulting element was pinned down by heavy machine gun fire, he personally rushed the emplacement and, firing his carbine and lobbing grenades with deadly accuracy, neutralized the weapon and killed 3 of the enemy. [4], On the second night, the PVA made a new push to take the hill, forcing the 7th Division to again reinforce. [citation needed], On both 9 and 10 July, the two sides attacked and counter-attacked. The top performer on Army's dominant cross country team, Shea led the Black Knights to a 19-2 record during his West Point career, a mark that included three straight "shutouts" of arch-rival Navy. Elements of Company G joined the defense on the afternoon of 7 July, having lost key personnel through casualties. Since 1952, only eight Army runners have achieved a better time in the mile, either indoors or outdoors. The Battle of Pork Chop Hill comprises a pair of related Korean War infantry battles during April and July 1953. To obtain either a Display Medal or a Display Recognition for your authorized award you will be required to provide military-issued documentation authorizing your award. At dawn on 18 April, an additional US rifle company (Company A, 17th Infantry) climbed the hill to reinforce the 2nd Battalion companies. Immediately integrating these troops into his unit, 1st Lt. Shea rallied a group of 20 men and again charged the enemy. This preliminary fight exposed Pork Chop to three-sided attack, and, for the next three weeks, PVA patrols probed it nightly. On the night of 6 July, using tactics identical to those in the April assault, the PVA again attacked Pork Chop. Richard Shea received the Medal of Honor for actions on 7 and 8 July 1953 as an Army first lieutenant and acting company commander at Pork Chop Hill, Sokkogae, Korea during the Korean War. Richard Thomas Shea, Jr. (January 3, 1927 – July 8, 1953) was a soldier in the United States Army in the Korean War. [2], Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company A 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. In 1953 during the Korean War Freeman was a First Sergeant in the US Army. Lt. Clemons, in tactical command of the assault, requested reinforcement. A large part of both PVA divisions were committed to the battle, and ultimately five battalions of the 17th and 32nd Infantry Regiments were engaged, making nine counter-attacks over four days. According to抗美援朝战争卫生工作总结 卫生勤务 (Summarization of Medical Works in the War to Aid Korea and Resist America), 6,800 soldiers of 67th division were involved in 1953 summer battles for five days, among them 533 were killed and 1,242 were wounded.
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