Word Celebrity Blog

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!