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Wednesday, June 30, 2010
David Bleak was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho, on Feb. 27, 1932. He was raised on a farm north of the city. David was more than 6 feet tall and weighed 250 pounds when he quit high school to work in
ranching and railroad jobs. In 1950, he joined the military.
He took his basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas, the famous old horse cavalry post. Before long he was assigned to a Medical Company that became part of the 2nd Battalion, 223 infantry Regiment of California’s 40th Infantry Division. He then received more advanced specialized medical aid training Camp Cook in California.
After several months Bleak was made Corporal, and as January 1952 dawned, the 40th Division was on its way to ‘the Korean Conflict via Japan. Somewhere north of the 38th parallel. Before long, Corporal Bleak was promoted to Sergeant filling the shoes of another NCO aid man who had recently been killed.
The 40th Division assignment was largely a holding action near the 38th parallel. It was mountain country where the trees had been cut down and used to reinforce entrenched enemy positions in the area. The only cover was a scattering of brush three of four feet high and the rugged contour of the land itself. In. this holding action both side set up fields of fire, logged in. artillery concentrations and then probed from time to time to see if the enemy was planning any surprises.
The I & R Platoon (Intelligence and Reconnaissance) of the 2nd Battalion drew the mission to go into enemy territory, capture a couple of North Koreans and/or Chinese and bring them out for interrogation.
One of the most common missions performed by United Nations infantrymen was the small raid for the purpose of capturing enemy prisoners for interrogation. These operations were usually launched at night and were extremely dangerous-indeed, relatively few succeeded in capturing any prisoners. At this level, the war was a very personal affair - it was man against man, rifle against grenade, fist against knife. Small unit fights required a great deal of courage, and sometimes the bravest men were those who did not carry a rifle at all - the medics. One such man was Sgt. David B. Bleak, a medical aidman attached to the 40th Infantry Division's 223d Infantry.
On 14 June 1952, Sergeant Bleak volunteered to accompany a patrol that was going out to capture enemy prisoners from a neighboring hill. As the patrol approached its objective the enemy detected it and laid down an intense stream of automatic weapons and small-arms fire. After attending to several soldiers cut down in the initial barrage, Sergeant Bleak resumed advancing up the hill with the rest of the patrol. As he neared the crest, he came under fire from a small group of entrenched enemy soldiers. Without hesitation, he leapt into the trench and charged his assailants, killing two with his bare hands and a third with his trench knife.
As he emerged from the emplacement, he saw a concussion grenade fall in front of a comrade and used his body to shield the man from the blast. He then proceeded to administer to the wounded, even after being struck by an enemy bullet. When the order came to pull back, Sergeant Bleak ignored his wound and picked up an incapacitated companion. As he moved down the hill with his heavy burden, two enemy soldiers bore down on him with fixed bayonets.
The soldiers rushed him, thrusting their bayonets at his chest. Sgt. Bleak sidestepped their lunges, grabbed his two assailants and smacked their heads together before resuming his way back down the mountain carrying his wounded comrade.
During its tour in Korea, the 40th division soldiers received many thousands of awards and decorations. The three soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor were Sergeant David B. Bleak, Medical Company 223rd Infantry; Corporal Gilbert G. Collier, Company F, 223rd Infantry (posthumous award); and Corporal Clifton T. Speicher, Company F, 223rd Infantry (posthumous award).
Sergeant Bleak's actions were so distinctive that June day that they won him one of the 131 Medals of Honor awarded during the Korean War. Yet a day did not go by in which some American soldier did not risk his life for his comrades on some nameless Korean hillside. This was particularly true for those soldiers assigned to the outpost line-a string of strongpoints several thousand yards to the front of the UN's main battle positions. The typical outpost consisted of a number of bunkers and interconnecting trenches ringed with barbed wire and mines perched precariously on the top of a barren, rocky hill. As the UN's most forward positions, the outposts acted as patrol bases and early warning stations. They also served as fortified outworks that controlled key terrain features overlooking UN lines. As such, they represented the UN's first line of defense and were accorded great importance by UN and Communist commanders alike. Not surprisingly, the outposts were the scenes of some of the most vicious fighting of the war. While most of these actions were on a small scale, some of the biggest battles of 1952 revolved around efforts either to establish, defend, or retake these outposts.
On 27 October 1953, with his family proudly looking on, Set. David B. Bleak received the Medal of Honor from President Dwight D, Eisenhower at the White House. His other decorations included the Purple Heart.
Rank and Organization:
Sergeant Medical Company, 2d Battalion, 223d Infantry Regiment, 40th Infantry Division:
Service: U.S. Army
Born: 27 February 1932, Idaho Falls, Bonneville County, Idaho.
Entered Service: Shelley, Bingham County, Idaho.
Served as: Medical Aid man.
Battle and Date of Action: Minarigol, Korea, 14 June 1952.
Citation:
Sgt. Bleak, a member of the medical company, distinguished himself conspicuous gallantry ;and indomitable courage above and beyond the call of duty: in action against the enemy. As a Medical Aidman, volunteered to accompany a reconnaissance patrol committed to engage the enemy and capture a prisoner for interrogation. Forging up the rugged Slope of the key .terrain, the group was subjected to intense automatic weapons and’ small arms fire and suffered several casualties. After administering to the wounded he, continued to advance with the patrol. Nearing the military crest of the hill, while attempting to cross the fire swept area to attend the wounded, he came under hostile fire from a small group of the enemy concealed in a trench. Entering the trench he closed with the enemy, killed two with bare hands and a third with his trench knife. Moving from the emplacement, he saw a concussion grenade fall in front of a companion, and, quickly sifting his position, shielded the man from the impact of the blast. Later, while ministering to the wounded, he
was struck by a hostile bullet but, despite the wound he undertook to evacuate a wounded comrade. As he moved down the hill with his heavy burden, he was attacked by two enemy soldiers with fixed. bayonets. Closing with the aggressors, he grabbed !hem and smacked their heads together, then carried his helpless comrade down the hill to safety.
Sgt. Bleak’s dauntless courage and intrepid actions reflect utmost credit upon himself and are in keeping with the honored traditions of the military service.
After his military service, Mr. Bleak kept mum about his combat record and turned down jobs offered to him by those wanting to do a favor for a war hero. He lived in Wyoming and worked variously as a rancher, grocery store meat cutter and truck driver.
Starting in the mid-1970s, Mr. Bleak spent a decade as a dairy farmer in Moore, Idaho. He became a janitor at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, a nuclear research test facility. He retired in the mid-1990s as chief hot-cell technician, helping store and dispose of fuel rods.
Major General John A. Dubia, Commanding General of Fort Sill, Oklahoma bestowed another honor. Gen. Dubia owes his life to a combat Medic in Viet Nam and to express his gratitude decided to flame the lat. Sill Troop Clinic in honor of a combat medic. Special permission was obtained; April 20, 1995 was designated as Sgt. David B. Bleak day; and the new medical facility at Ft. Sill was named the Sgt. David B. Bleak Troop Medical Clinic.
David at the Dedication of "The David B. Bleak Park" - 2005
David B. Bleak, an Army medical aidman during the Korean War , died March 23, 2006 at Lost Rivers District Hospital in Arco, Idaho. He had emphysema, Parkinson's disease and complications from a broken hip. He was 74 years old.
Survivors include his wife of 45 years, Lois Pickett Bleak of Arco; four children, Charles Bleak of Cove, Oregon., Barbara Martin of Phoenix, Arizona, Christopher Bleak of Prescott, Arizona, and Bruce Bleak of Moore, Idaho; nine grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Patrick Henry Brady
Patrick Henry Brady was born on October 1, 1936 in Philip, South Dakota. He attended O'Dea High School in Seattle, Washington, a strict, all boys school run by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, where he was active in sports.
Brady is a former president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and holds a Bachelors degree in Psychology from Seattle University and an MBA from Notre Dame.
While in college at Seattle University, he initially hated the compulsory ROTC program and was kicked out. Brady realized he would probably be drafted after graduation reentered the ROTC to enter the service as an officer. After graduation he was commissioned a 2d Lieutenant in the Army Medical Service Corps in 1959.
During his first tour in Vietnam, then Captain Brady served with the 57th Medical Detachment, where his commanding officer was the legendary Major Charles Kelly. After Kelly's death on July 1, 1964, Brady took command of the 57th Medical's Detachment A in Soc Trang. On his second tour, Brady, now a major, commanded the 54th Medical Detachment. It was during this tour that Brady earned his Medal of Honor.
Gen. Brady spent over 34 years in the service of his country, with duty stations all over the world. He was a pioneer in battlefield patient evacuation developing rescue techniques that allowed the evacuation of the wounded in all weather conditions and resulted in him being identified in The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War and other books as the top helicopter pilot in Vietnam.
Using these techniques, Gen. Brady earned the Medal of Honor for a series of missions that began before sunrise and ended after dark in which he utilized three helicopters which were hit more than 400 times by enemy fire and mines to rescue some 60 patients.
During his two tours in Vietnam Brady evacuated 5000 wounded. After Vietnam Brady continued in the army, retiring as a Major General in 1993 after 34 years of service.
In two tours in Vietnam, Patrick Brady flew over 2500 combat missions and evacuated over 5000 friendly, as well as enemy, wounded. Gen. Brady is one of two Army veterans of Vietnam to hold both the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross. His awards include two Distinguished Service Medals; the Defense Superior Service Medal; the Legion of Merit; six Distinguished Flying Crosses; two Bronze Stars, one for valor; the Purple Heart and 53 Air Medals, one for valor. He has also been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal of The American Legion, its highest award; and the DAR Medal of Honor from the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Patrick Brady never saw combat after Vietnam. He stayed in the service and rose to the rank of major general. His six children (three sons, three daughters) all served in uniform as well, including two sons who were graduates of West Point, although none of the Brady offspring pursued the military as a career.
Veterans Day has always had meaning for Brady, but never more so than this year. His youngest child, 23-year-old daughter Meghan, another Seattle University graduate, is serving as an Army medical service corps officer in Baghdad. Suddenly, the Medal of Honor recipient's perspective has been turned upside down, from combat warrior to combat waiter at home.
"I can tell you I've gained a new appreciation for the families of veterans," Brady says. "I have never gone through anything like having my last daughter over there in the Iraq War. It's far, far more difficult than being there yourself.... No doubt she'll turn out just fine. I'm confident she's going to make it and they'll start rotating out of the war zone in a year, like we did in Vietnam.
"But everything about Veterans Day has changed since the terrorists. Why they hate us as they do is something I don't understand. We have to find a way to fight these people. To fight these folks will require a lot of ingenuity. But we'll get it done, as America always does. And I'm so glad my daughter is contributing."
Brady returned to the place he grew up after he retired from active duty, buying a house with some acreage outside Sumner where he lives with his wife, Nancy. He devotes himself to continuing his decades of research for a memoir of his service in Vietnam, the kind of story that he believes just has not been told about the war, especially all the humanitarian efforts of soldiers there.
He also has served for seven years as the chairman of the board of the Citizens Flag Alliance, the broad-based initiative to pass a constitutional amendment that will allow Congress to pass laws to prohibit desecration of the flag.
"Gen. Brady is one of the most persistent humans on the planet", said a boyhood friend from Seattle, Terry Marcell, the director of the First Avenue Service Center, a Seattle homeless shelter. "He can certainly get people's attention, both by the heroism of his own life story and just his sheer force of will," Marcell said.
Patrick Brady has led a fund-raising campaign for the homeless shelter, recently raising $230,000. He also is a regent for Seattle University and serves on the foundation for O'Dea High School.
He is a former president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and now serves as Chairman of the Citizens Flag Alliance, an organization dedicated to protecting the American flag from desecration. Brady said, his movement is not about fabric, it's about fiber. The moral kind that he saw around him every day on the battlefields.
"What's gone wrong with this country is not tangible - it's spiritual," Brady said. "Stopping flag burning has a greater meaning. It will say something again about what is right and wrong. It will begin to return a moral basis to our laws."
Then he borrows from the language of the Vietnam era, when it was said to be important to stop communism there or risk the erosion of freedom everywhere.
"I see flag burning as just another visible domino in the devaluing of America."
The two-star Army general is on a crusade to save the American flag. He's supposed to be retired, but he often works seven days a week. He's racked up 400,000 frequent-flier miles since 1994, plugging the importance of the flag in nearly every state. He visits Congress constantly, urging politicians to back a 17-word constitutional amendment designed to protect the flag.
The group he heads, the Citizens Flag Alliance, has spent more than $17 million on a lobbying and advertising campaign dating to 1994. It is an alliance made up of 140 organizations with more than 20 million members. Its goal is to undo a U.S. Supreme Court decision that said those four Seattle protesters had a free-speech right to burn that flag.
This summer, Congress is expected to vote for the fourth time since 1990 on the proposed amendment.
Medal of Honor citation
Rank and organization:
Major,
U.S. Army,
Medical Service Corps,
54th Medical Detachment,
67th Medical Group,
44th Medical Brigade.
Place and date:
Near Chu Lai,
Republic of Vietnam,
January 6, 1968.
Entered service at:
Seattle, Wash.
Born:
October 1, 1936,
Philip, S. Dakota.
Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, Maj. Brady distinguished himself while serving in the Republic of Vietnam commanding a UH-1H ambulance helicopter, volunteered to rescue wounded men from a site in enemy held territory which was reported to be heavily defended and to be blanketed by fog. To reach the site he descended through heavy fog and smoke and hovered slowly along a valley trail, turning his ship sideward to blow away the fog with the backwash from his rotor blades. Despite the unchallenged, close-range enemy fire, he found the dangerously small site, where he successfully landed and evacuated 2 badly wounded South Vietnamese soldiers. He was then called to another area completely covered by dense fog where American casualties
lay only 50 meters from the enemy. Two aircraft had previously been shot down and others had made unsuccessful attempts to reach this site earlier in the day. With unmatched skill and extraordinary courage, Maj. Brady made 4 flights to this embattled landing zone and successfully rescued all the wounded. On his third mission of the day Maj. Brady once again landed at a site surrounded by the enemy. The friendly ground force, pinned down by enemy fire, had been unable to reach and secure the landing zone. Although his aircraft had been badly damaged and his controls partially shot away during
his initial entry into this area, he returned minutes later and rescued the remaining injured. Shortly thereafter, obtaining a replacement aircraft, Maj. Brady was requested to land in an enemy minefield where a platoon of American soldiers was trapped. A mine detonated near his helicopter, wounding 2 crewmembers and damaging his ship. In spite of this, he managed to fly 6 severely injured patients to medical aid. Throughout that day Maj. Brady utilized 3 helicopters to evacuate a total of 51 seriously wounded men, many of whom would have perished without prompt medical treatment.
Maj. Brady's bravery was in the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army.
Patrick H. Brady can remember that 1969 day as if were yesterday. He was awaiting the White House ceremony when President Richard M. Nixon would present him with the country's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, and a senior officer turned to him with unsolicited advice.
"He told me that what was about to happen was the most significant thing that would happen to me or anyone in my family for generations," Brady recalls. "I thought what was that guy talking about. I didn't believe it then. I don't believe it now."
The passing years have convinced Brady that having all six of his children finish their college educations was far more significant than his receiving the Medal of Honor for combat actions as a helicopter pilot flying medical evacuations in Vietnam. Education, now that was something lasting, something truly affecting generations.
"I don't think combat," he says, "is one of the great challenges in life."
Scratch below the surface of a true hero and this is what one encounters more often than not: a matter-of-factness about what was accomplished. I was just doing my duty. Others were doing similar things. They could just as easily have received the honor.
Brady has seen that attitude time and again when Medal of Honor recipients have gathered for their annual reunions, most recently a month ago in Branson, Mo. The recipients seldom swap tales of their combat exploits. Braggadocio is definitely not a welcome trait. Humility is the imperative when Medal of Honor recipients meet, as is humor, as is love of country.
"This is just a great bunch of guys, but incredible patriots," Brady says. "I was president of the Medal of Honor Society and we may not agree on a lot of things, but we all share a great love of country. We would do anything for our country. We've got Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives, every mix of that you can imagine, but what we Medal of Honor recipients have in common is an intense love of our country. We would die for it."
Heroes simply refuse to quit, no matter what. Maj. Brady demonstrated that repeatedly in the actions during one hectic day in 1968 that led to the Medal of Honor. He volunteered to rescue two badly wounded South Vietnamese soldiers in fog-bound enemy territory after other rescue attempts had failed. He succeeded, then soon departed on another foul-weather mission that required five flights over an hour to rescue 39 GIs.
Other rescue missions followed, including one that was almost aborted when a mine explosion ripped a hole in his chopper and caused every warning light on the control panel to flash. Brady still managed to coax the chopper into the air, returned to base with a half-dozen gravely wounded soldiers, picked up another chopper and continued his work. By the end of the day, he had rescued 51 warriors from the battlefield, helping save many of their lives, and all this was accomplished in medevac choppers that were riddled with an astounding 400 bullet holes.
Recounting what resulted in the Medal of Honor is a mandatory part of life as a recipient, whether in school assemblies, Rotary gatherings, media interviews. Brady has done that more times than he can count, sometimes twice in a single day, but the story seldom varies, nor his response to the inevitable questions of how he could have done what he did in the intense heat of battle.
Patrick Brady's plain-spoken yet eloquent responses provide a mix of context and insight. He emphasizes that what he did as a major on that Medal of Honor day was "not remarkable in any way" from what he did in the 2,000 to 3,000 medevac missions that he flew during two tours of duty in Vietnam. Oh, there was "a little weather" that day, plus someone also happened to write down what he had done, but otherwise it was just another day of trying to save as many lives as he possibly could, which was always his motivation.
"We were saving lives and nothing is more exhilarating; you couldn't not do it," he says. "If someone was hurt somewhere, you had to find a way to get into there. It was as if it was a friend of yours, or a loved one, or you out there yourself. That made the missions easy. And my faith was the substitute for fear. I never experienced fear, I always focused on the mission. I figured that if I got killed, there was not a better way to die. But my focus was on the mission."
Everything did not always go according to plan. Terrain played tricks, weather intruded, enemy fire proved impossible to evade. Brady readily admits there were times when he "messed up," times when he had 30 to 40 of his choppers shot up, had some of his crew members wounded, or was wounded himself, although not seriously.
"God blessed me," Brady stresses. "I was very, very lucky. But I just think that I was hard to kill, since I was so careful to plan and execute approaches into an area."
Brady remembers being at the White House Medal of Honor ceremony and being "embarrassed, knowing what I did and knowing what so many other guys did." He had other obstacles to surmount in passing years. The medal definitely opened doors, provided opportunities, yet also created huge expectations, particularly among civilians.
"One of the negatives of being a Medal of Honor recipient is that people attribute something to you that's simply not there," Brady explains. "People think you're a Superman. They have expectations of you that you can only fulfill if you went back into combat."
Monday, June 28, 2010
Colonel Lewis Lee Millett
Early life
Lewis Lee Millett was born on December 15, 1920, in Mechanic Falls, Maine. He grew up in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, after moving there with his mother when his parents divorced and his mother remarried. His family had 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 ColonyHis great-grandfather had served in the American Civil War and an uncle fought in World War I with the 101st Field Artillery Regiment of the Massachusetts Army National Guard.
While still attending high school in Dartmouth, he enlisted in the Massachusetts National Guard in 1938 and joined his uncle's old regiment, the 101st Field Artillery. In 1940, he joined in the United States Army Air Corps and entered gunnery school. He was eager to see combat and when it appeared that the U.S. would not enter World War II he deserted in mid-1941.
With a friend who had received a bad conduct discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps, Millett hitchhiked to Canada and enlisted in the Canadian Army. Assigned to the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery, he was sent to the United Kingdom, where he served as an anti-aircraft radar operator in London during the Blitz.
World War II
Shortly after the time, he arrived in the United Kingdom, the U.S. had entered the war and transferred in 1942, to the United States Army which apparently was not being overly meticulous in its background checks.
Assigned to the 27th Armored Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Lewis Millett served in Tunisia as an anti-tank gunner. During an engagement there, he drove a burning ammunition-filled half-track away from Allied soldiers, jumping to safety just before it exploded. For this action, he was awarded the U.S. military's third-highest decoration, the Silver Star. He later shot down a Messerschmitt Me-109 fighter plane using half-track mounted machine guns.
Sergeant Millett took part in the Allied invasion of Italy at Salerno and the subsequent Battle of Anzio. It was at this time that the U.S. Army discovered Millet's 1941 desertion. He was court-martialed, demoted to private, and fined $52, and stripped of his leave privileges. However following his punishment, Millett received a battlefield promotion to second lieutenant and a Bronze Star.
When World War II ended, Millett temporarily left active duty, only to rejoin the National Guard.
The Korean War
After World War II, Millett attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, for three years before being called up to serve in Korea. Over a decade later, in the 1960s, he earned a bachelor's degree from Park College (now known as Park University) in Missouri.
With the outbreak of the Korean War, Lewis Millett was transferred to the 25th Infantry Division's 27th Infantry Regiment, the "Wolfhounds." He was a captain and commander of Company E of the 27th Infantry Regiment. On February 7, 1951, near Soam-Ni, he led his company in an assault on an enemy position atop Hill 180. When one platoon became pinned down by heavy fire, Capt. Millett took another platoon forward, joined the two groups, and led them up the hill.
"We had acquired some Chinese documents stating that Americans were afraid of hand-to-hand fighting and cold steel... when I read that, I thought, 'I'll show you, you sons of bitches!'" Wielding his bayonet and throwing hand grenades, Millett yelled encouragement to his soldiers throughout the hand to hand fight. Upon reaching the top of the hill, his men stormed the enemy position and forced the opposing soldiers to withdraw. Although wounded in the shin by grenade fragments, Capt. Millett refused to be evacuated until the position was secured.
Historian S.L.A. Marshall described the attack as "the most complete bayonet charge by American troops since Cold Harbor."
Charles H. Cureton, director of Army museums at the U.S. Army Center of Military History, said that Col. Millett's intimidating, close-combat bayonet charge was "very unusual. By the time you get to the Second World War, the range of lethality of weapons is such that a bayonet charge is very hazardous."
For his leadership during the assault, Millett was awarded the Medal of Honor. The medal was formally presented to him by President Harry S. Truman in July 1951. He was also awarded the Army's second-highest decoration, the Distinguished Service Cross, for leading another bayonet charge in the same month.
And it is worth noting that the CO that Millett replaced also was awarded the Medal of Honor, but posthumously.
Later in the war, Captain Millett was recognized for his aid in the rescue of a downed pilot behind enemy lines.
Capt. Millett's actions in Korea earned him the Distinguished Service Cross, 1 Silver Star, three Bronze Stars with V, four Purple Hearts and one bottle of Scotch whiskey by the 2d South African Fighter Squadron for saving a downed pilot deep behind enemy lines.
The Vietnam War
After the Korean War, Millett attended Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division as an intelligence officer and later served in Vietnam as a military advisor to the controversial Phoenix Program, which aimed to root out and kill Viet Cong sympathizers.
Gen. William Westmoreland picked Millett to command the "Recondo" (reconnaissance-commando) school to train small units for service in Vietnam. In the mid-1960s, he commanded the Army Security Agency training center at Fort Devens, Massachusetts.
Colonel Millett spent five and half years in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, three of which were in a classified assignment. His last combat assignment was as an advisor to the Phoenix Intelligence Program. At one point in the war, a North Vietnamese battalion commander arranging surrender to the Vietnamese Army held him hostage.
Colonel Millett received the Vietnam Campaign Ribbon for four campaigns, but refused all US decorations for his actions in Vietnam with a statement that he was not there for recognition but to provide freedom for people under attack by forces of tyranny. Some of Colonel Millett’s numerous additional decorations include two Legions of Merit, two Air Medals, the French Croix de Guerre with palm, the Canadian War Cross and Volunteer Service Medal, and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry.
Lewis Millett retired from the military in 1973, at the rank of colonel. He later stated that he retired because he felt the U.S. had "quit" in Vietnam.
Col' Lewis Lee Millett was 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 was alsothe founder of the Army's Recondo Schools.
Col. Millett was a graduate of the US Army’s Infantry, Ranger, and 11th Airborne Schools, the Command and General Staff College, and the Army War College. He holds a BA in Political Science (Pi Gamma Mu Honors) from Park College, Missouri, and a Doctorate of Human Letters from Emerson College, Massachusetts. Colonel Millett has served as a military advisor in Japan (Director of Education, Nara and Wakyama Prefectures), Greece (advisor to three training centers, National Cadet School, National NCO Academy, Infantry Heavy Weapons Training Center, and the Raiding Forces), Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
He has an extensive background as a military instructor and is responsible for organizing several elite combat forces including the 101st Airborne Recondos, the 82nd Airborne Raiders, the Rangers of Vietnam, and the Commandos of Laos. He additionally served as an instructor at the Command and General Staff College.
As a paratrooper, Lewis Millett made five jumps in Vietnam and eight in Laos. During the Persian Gulf War, Millett volunteered for duty during Operation Desert Storm, but was denied service because of his age.
Col. Millett was a past National Commander of the legion of Valor, a former District Director of the Medal of Honor Society, and has served as the honorary Colonel of the 27th Infantry Regiment Wolfhounds for 16 years. He is a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Legion of Valor, Military Order of the Purple Heart, 1st Armored Division, 25th Infantry Division, Special Forces, Special Operations Group, the 511th, 551st, 187th, 11th, 506th 82nd, and 101st Airborne Associations, the Korean War Veterans Association, and the Medal of Honor Society.
Later Years and Family
After his military career, Millett worked as a deputy sheriff in Trenton, Tennessee. before settling in the San Jacinto Mountains resort village of Idyllwild, Calif., across the street from an American Legion post. He would remain for the rest of his life.
He was a member of the Veterans Advisory Commission to the Riverside Board of County Supervisors.
Col. Millett was a regular at patriotic events locally and across the country. In April, Col. Millett served as grand marshal for the Salute to Veterans Parade in Riverside. Earlier this year, a park in San Jacinto was dedicated in his name.
"He was a regular at the (Riverside) National Cemetery," Goldware said. "If he could get on board a military transport, he would go anywhere for the troops."
Lewis Millett's first marriage, to Virginia Young, ended in divorce.
During the festivities surrounding his Medal of Honor award in 1951, he met Winona Williams. The two were later married and had four children: Lewis Lee Jr., Timothy, John, and Elizabeth. By the time of Winona Millett's death in 1993, the couple had been married over 40 years.
Millett's son John, an Army staff sergeant, was among more than 240 U.S. military members killed in 1985 when their airplane, Arrow Air Flight 1285, crashed in Gander, Newfoundland, while carrying them home from peacekeeping duty in the Sinai Peninsula.
Col. Millett's Last Post
Col. Millett died of congestive heart failure on November 14, 2009, one month short of his 89th birthday. He died at the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial VA Medical Center in Loma Linda, California, after being hospitalized four days earlier. He had experienced various health problems over the last few years of his life, including diabetes.
His funeral was held December 5, 2009 at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California and his grave can be found in section 2, grave #1910.
Pallbearers carry the casket of retired Army Col. Lewis Lee Millett, Sr. during memorial services at Riverside National Cemetery Dec. 5. Millett, a Medal of Honor recipient for his actions during the Korean War, was saluted by those in attendance as his family followed. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Staff Sgt. Kevin T. Chandler)
Community members pay their respects to retired Army Col. Lewis Lee Millett, Sr. during Dec. 5 memorial services at the Medal of Honor Memorial. Millett, a Medal of Honor recipient, was laid to rest in Riverside National Cemetery. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Staff Sgt. Kevin T. Chandler)
Brig. Gen. Robert "Abe" Abrams hands the American flag, which draped Medal of Honor recipient Col. Lewis Millett\'s casket, to Col. Millett's son, Lee Millett.
Three Howitzers Fire Farewell Salute
Col. Lewis Lee Millett has transferred to Post Everlasting.
Riverside National Cemetery
Col. Millett donated many hours of service at Riverside National Cemetery, where he is one of the Medal of Honor recipients honored at the United States National Medal of Honor Memorial.
The open air memorial consists of a plaza surrounded by the flags of all fifty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, representing the homes of the Medal of Honor recipients. Italian Cypress trees, planted in "squads" of nine, encircle the plaza.
The Medal of Honor Memorial is the first publicly accessible site that lists the names of all Medal of Honor recipients. The Medal of Honor, sometimes referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor because it is awarded by the President on behalf of the Congress, is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States.
Three different versions of the Medal of Honor are awarded: Army, Navy, and Air Force.
Nearby where his father will be laid to rest in the Riverside National Cemetery stands the POW-MIA Memorial sculpted by his son, Lee, a Vietnam veteran. The sculpture is a prisoner of war, bound and kneeling with face turned up to the heavens in an attitude of prayer.
It was sculpted by Col. Millett's son, Vietnam War veteran and artist, Lewis Lee Millett, Jr., who waived the entire artist's commission so that the whole memorial, paid for by donations not tax funds, could be completed. Col. Millett joined his Vietnam veteran son at the dedication of the P.O.W./M.I.A. Memorial in his full U.S. Army Uniform.
Awards And Honors
Col. Millett's military awards include the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, two Legion of Merit Medals, three Bronze Stars, four Purple Hearts, and three Air Medals.
Other Honors
At Osan Air Base in South Korea, "Millett Road" is named after Colonel Millett running up Hill 180, the hill where he led the legendary bayonet charge.
In 2009, a park in San Jacinto, California, was named in honor of Col. Millett.
Medal Of Honor Citation
Millett's official Medal of Honor citation reads:
Capt. Millett, Company E, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action. While personally leading his company in an attack against a strongly held position he noted that the 1st Platoon was pinned down by small-arms, automatic, and antitank fire. Capt. Millett ordered the 3d Platoon forward, placed himself at the head of the 2 platoons, and, with fixed bayonet, led the assault up the fire-swept hill. In the fierce charge Capt. Millett bayoneted 2 enemy soldiers and boldly continued on, throwing grenades, clubbing and bayoneting the enemy, while urging his men forward by shouting encouragement. Despite vicious opposing fire, the whirlwind hand-to-hand assault carried to the crest of the hill. His dauntless leadership and personal courage so inspired his men that they stormed into the hostile position and used their bayonets with such lethal effect that the enemy fled in wild disorder. During this fierce onslaught Capt. Millett was wounded by grenade fragments but refused evacuation until the objective was taken and firmly secured.
The superb leadership, conspicuous courage, and consummate devotion to duty demonstrated by Capt. Millett were directly responsible for the successful accomplishment of a hazardous mission and reflect the highest credit on himself and the heroic traditions of the military service.
Capt. Millett was awarded the Medal of Honor – the nation’s highest decoration for valor – for his actions on Hill 180, which came to be known as the Battle of Bayonet Hill.
“I was surprised, I never expected it,” Millett told Stars and Stripes. “Of course, a lot of real fine people had to die so that a few might get decorated. There’s an awful lot of men who lie buried over here, and the only recognition they received was the purple heart.”
A painting of Capt. Lewis Millett leading the bayonet charge up Hill 180 in Korea, February 1951, that won him the Medal of Honour. The Painting hangs in the UN Command Officers Mess in Seoul.
“I got the Medal of Honor thanks to the Canadian army,” Col. Millett quipped. “The Canadians taught me bayonet fighting, and I led a bayonet charge in the Korean war.”
“I always had my men fix bayonets,” he said. “I never forgot the Canadian training. We didn’t do much bayonet drill in those days, but I gotta say, those Chinese didn’t know what hit them when we charged.”
Capt. Millett led the way and routed the Chinese. His Medal of Honor citation reads: “His dauntless leadership and personal courage so inspired his men that they stormed into the hostile position and used their bayonets with such lethal effect that the enemy fled in wild disorder.”
Lewis Millett’s Speech On Hill 180
Remembrance Day Feb. 6, 1998
This was a special ceremony as Army Col. (ret.) Lewis Millett, who led the charge up "Bayonet Hill" in 1951, and awarded the Medal of Honor, was the special guest.
Nearly 47 years to the day it happened, Millett said his attack on the Chinese was ordered "to unnerve the enemy. The Chinese thought Americans were afraid to use their bayonets."
He also talked about freedom and the price that was paid, not only in the Korean Conflict, but all wars, for the freedom we enjoy today.
"I have fought in three wars, in seven countries, visited kings and commoners, peasants and presidents, soldiers and strangers," said Millett. "And all they wanted was to be free and live in peace. But the price of freedom comes at a very high price."
"Shortly after the liberation of Rome in 1944, I had the opportunity to visit the Sistine Chapel and observe Michelangelo’s portrayal of our Creator reaching out to touch the fashioned clay that would be mankind. When our Creator breathed the fire of life into the dust that was to be man, He imbued in man’s soul a spark of Freedom. Tyrants, since the dawn of creation have attempted to destroy man’s desire to worship his Creator and to stifle and smother that spark of Freedom."
"In the coliseum of Rome, on the steppes of Russia, in the concentration camps of Europe, in the rice paddies of China, on the jungle floor of Vietnam and Cambodia, in the mountains of Laos and Afghanistan, on the desert of Arabia, in the land once called Yugoslavia lie the bodies and bones, the dust of countless millions who are martyrs to the cause of Freedom."
"In 1856 a poet stood in a square in Budapest, Hungary, and shouted to a multitude fighting against the tyranny of Russia, “Shall we free men be, or slave? Choose the lot your spirit craves!” Thousands of young Americans who never heard these words have volunteered to fight against the cause of tyranny because they believed in Freedom."
"AMERICA, THE LAST FREE SOCIETY FOUNDED IN LIBERTY UNDER GOD, STILL EXISTS A THREAD OF HOPE IN THE FABRIC OF A WORLD REPLETE WITH TYRANNY TOWARDS MAN AND TREASON TOWARDS GOD. WE ARE STILL FREE BECAUSE MEN OF HONOR AND COURAGE DEEPLY BELIEVED THAT THE DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS A NOBLE CAUSE."
"I believe in freedom, I believe deeply in it. I've fought in three wars, and volunteered for all of them, because I believed as a free man, that it was my duty to help those under the attack of tyranny.Just as simple as that."
Col, Millett then read "A Soldier's Prayer", which he wrote after his oldest son was killed coming back from a peacekeeping mission. The ending of the prayer was, "So to you who've answered duty's siren call, may God bless you my son, may God bless you all."
When Millett was finished speaking, the overflow crowd gave him a standing ovation as he walked back to his seat. Many observers had tears in their eyes.
Bagpipes then played Amazing Grace on the top of the hill overlooking the ceremony before representatives laid wreaths near the Hill 180 monument.
Col. Lewis Millett Recieving An Award.
Col. Con Rodi, 51st Fighter Wing vice commander, had a sign called Millett Road, which renamed the road running from the Hill 180 gate down to the A-10 monument at Broadway. Although still pending official approval, Rodi declared the road should unofficially be referred to as Millet Road. Rodi then gave Millett the actual sign, saying the base would have other ones made.
The Following was writtin in memory of soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice, especially his youngest son who was one of 248 soldiers killed while returning from a peacekeeping mission in Sinai, Egypt in 1985.
“An Old Soldier’s Prayer”
by Col. Lewis Millett
I have fought when others feared to serve.
I have gone where others failed to go.
I’ve lost friends in war and strife,
Who valued Duty more than love of life.
I have shared the comradeship of pain.
I have searched the lands for men that we have lost.
I have sons who served this land of liberty,
Who would fight to see that other stricken lands are free.
I have seen the weak forsake humanity.
I have heard the traitors praise our enemy.
I’ve seen challenged men become even bolder,
I’ve seen the Duty, Honor, Sacrifice of the Soldier.
Now I understand the meaning of our lives,
The loss of comrades not so very long ago.
So to you who have answered duty’s siren call,
May God bless you my son, may God bless you all.
May God Bless You Lewis Lee Millett,
May God Bless You All!
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