Word Celebrity Blog

Einar H. Ingman, Jr.



“The thing that bothered me worse than anything that winter was the cold. I’d always gone through life bitching about it being too hot or too cold; during the pullback from the Yalu, I decided I would never complain about the heat again if I could only just get warm. And the thing you had to realize, with life expectancy being what it was on the battlefield, was that chances were you weren’t going to live until spring anyway. You had to realize that you might never get warm again.” - Col. Allan D. Bell, Jr.



Einar H. Ingman, Jr. was born on October 6, 1929, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and grew up on a farm. He was always fascinated with heavy machines. When a military recruiter told him he could learn a trade involving this equipment in the Army, Ingman signed enlistment papers, hoping that he would get to work to work with heavy machinery, but instead he became an infantryman.




























When the Korean War broke out, his unit, the 17th Infantry, was rushed into battle, and he found himself carrying a rifle instead of driving a truck.

On February 26, 1951, near the town of Malta-ri, Corporal Ingman  was among two squads of men whose task was assaulting a fortified ridge-top position. When both squad leaders were wounded, he combined the squads and took command. After making a radio call for artillery and tank support, he led the soldiers against the enemy position, encouraging them and directing their fire.


























Corporal Ingman charged an enemy machine-gun nest, threw a grenade into it, and shot the gunners. As he approached a second machine-gun emplacement, an enemy grenade exploded near his head, knocking him down and tearing off a piece of his left ear.

As he struggled to his feet, a Chinese soldier jumped up from a trench and shot him in the face. The bullet hit next to his nose, tearing out his upper teeth and exiting behind his ear.

He immediately lost all memory — even of getting shot. Acting by reflex, he got up and moved forward toward the machine gun, emptying his clip and attacking the gunners with his bayonet. Then he passed out.


























As a result of Corporal Ingman's action, the enemy defenses were broken, his unit secured its objective, and over one hundred enemy soldiers abandoned their weapons and fled in disorganized retreat.






















Corporal Ingman evacuated to Tokyo, Japan, for medical treatment. He regained consciousness seven days later. His left eye was destroyed, his left ear was deaf, and he had suffered a brain injury which rendered him a complete amnesiac, unable to recall his own name. After having emergency brain surgery, his memories slowly returned, although he never regained any memory of being shot or any of the events which immediately followed, and has had continued to have memory trouble for the rest of his life.





















He was sent to Percy Jones Army Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan, for further treatment. Einar Ingman spent the next two years undergoing twenty-three surgeries. Although he recovered physically, his memory would come and go.

























In mid-1951, Corporal Ingman, recently promoted to sergeant, and was flown from his hospital to Washington, D.C., where he was met by a stretcher and an ambulance, and where he got a renewed sense of how serious his injuries were when one of the waiting medics was surprised to see that he could actually walk. He was fitted for a new dress uniform, and President Harry S Truman presented the Medal of Honor to him on July 5, 1951.

The hot July noon sun beat down on the hawklike face of Captain Lewis Millett of South Dartmouth, Mass., on husky, handsome Master Sergeant Stanley Adams of Olathe, Kans., on the nervous stare of Captain Raymond Harvey of Pasadena, Calif., and  on the stony and disfigured mask of Sergeant Einar Ingman of Tomahawk, Wisconsin.

The President clasped around their necks the blue-starred ribbons with the gold pendants—Medals of Honor. The four brought the total of Medals of Honor awarded to Army men in Korea to 27.  Of the winners, 20 are missing or dead.

"It is... a proud moment for me," Harry Truman said simply. "I have told them many a time that I would much rather have that Congressional Medal of Honor than to be President of the United States. I don't think very many of them believe me, but it is true."

After the brief ceremony, President Truman and the generals posed with the four soldiers for the press photographers. The generals shook the heroes' hands. "My name's Bradley," said the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "That was a fine, a grand thing you did."

After the ceremony, Sergeant Ingman flew back home to Tomahawk, Wisconsin, where the townspeople staged a party for him and gave him a new car, boat, and trailer to go along with it. In the boat was a huge northern muskie that had just been caught. They cooked the fish and everyone in the small town joined Sgt.Ingman in a grand feast.


Post-war Life

One year after receiving the Meda Of Honorl, Einar Ingman got married.  Einar and his wife Mardelle have seven children.





















In celebration of the 50th year since receiving his Medal Of Honor, Einar Ingman's friends and neighbors had a celebration for him and presented him with an M-1 rifle, like the one he used in Korea.  His wife Mardelle is seen standing on a platform behind him.


























Sgt. Einar Ingman didn't appear to suffer post-traumatic stress throughout most of their years of marriage, said his wife, Mardelle Ingman, who attends the MOH conventions with her children.

In 2003, Einar Ingman suffered a stroke and now has difficulty communicating. and has lived in a nursing home in Irma, Wisconsin, ever since. Irma is a just south of Tomahawk.

























Mardelle Ingman said that on Christmas, 2002, a man dressed as Santa Claus delivered presents to residents of the nursing home. "When the brown bag that he was carrying the presents in was empty he threw it under the Christmas tree. It had some red on the bag.  Einar went nuts.  He said, 'That's one of my men. He's hurt. You've got to get a medic. Go get a medic,' " said Mardelle Ingman, "I just took him to his room and talked to him to calm him."


























Sgt. Einar Ingman attended Medal of Honor conventions for more than four decades and was invited to 11 presidential inaugurations. His wife said that he appreciated the response of neighbors who never gave special treatment to the hero in their community.

"He was always very proud of it," Mardelle Ingman said. "The only thing he said was, 'I don't wear it for myself.' He lost almost all of his men, and he said, 'I wear it for all the men that didn't come back.' "


Medal Of Honor


The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to

EINAR H.INGMAN JR.

Rank and organization:
Sergeant (then Cpl.),
U.S. Army, Company E,
17th Infantry Regiment,
7th Infantry Division.

Place and date:
Near Maltari, Korea, 
February 26, 1951.

Entered service at:
Tomahawk, Wisconson.

Born:
October 6, 1929,
Milwaukee, Wisconson.

G.O. No.: 68,
August 2, 1951.















Citation:

Sgt. Ingman, a member of Company E, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. The 2 leading squads of the assault platoon of his company, while attacking a strongly fortified ridge held by the enemy, were pinned down by withering fire and both squad leaders and several men were wounded. Cpl. Ingman assumed command, reorganized and combined the 2 squads, then moved from 1 position to another, designating fields of fire and giving advice and encouragement to the men. Locating an enemy machinegun position that was raking his men with devastating fire he charged it alone, threw a grenade into the position, and killed the remaining crew with rifle fire.

Another enemy machinegun opened fire approximately 15 yards away and inflicted additional casualties to the group and stopped the attack. When Cpl. Ingman charged the second position he was hit by grenade fragments and a hail of fire which seriously wounded him about the face and neck and knocked him to the ground. With incredible courage and stamina, he arose instantly and, using only his rifle, killed the entire guncrew before falling unconscious from his wounds. As a result of the singular action by Cpl. Ingman the defense of the enemy was broken, his squad secured its objective, and more than 100 hostile troops abandoned their weapons and fled in disorganized retreat.

Cpl. Ingman's indomitable courage, extraordinary heroism, and superb leadership reflect the highest credit on himself and are in keeping with the esteemed traditions of the infantry and the U.S. Army.



Veterans Memorial Park, Tomahawk, Wisconsin

Tomahawk is located in northern Lincoln County, just south of the intersection of Highways 8 and 51. The Wisconsin River bisects the city and is joined here by the Somo, Tomahawk, and Spirit rivers, as it flows south to the Mississippi.





















The Lincoln County Veterans Memorial is located on the south bank of the Wisconsin River in Tomahawk, Wisconsin. It is the focal point of a park designated as Memorial Park in 1955.

The Memorial was originally conceived in the early 1980's as a tribute to Vietnam Veterans, but the concept expanded to become a permanent memorial to all Lincoln County Veterans, living and dead, who served in the United States military during the World War One, World War Two, Korean, and Vietnam War eras.

























Tomahawk's Memorial Park was chosen as the site for the future Memorial, and fundraising was begun by a Committee representing several Veterans of Foreign War and American Legion Posts. The Committee settled on a design submitted by Mary Ingman Herman, the daughter of Tomahawk native Einar Ingman, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient for his Korean War service.





















The final design of the site focused on a slab of Dakota Mahogany granite eight feet tall and five feet wide, engraved with the famous quote from President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address: "We take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion."

The total cost of the Memorial was raised entirely through private donations; and dedication of the new Memorial was held May 28, 1986.

It was nearly twenty years later that additions were proposed to the existing Memorial. Once again, Mary Ingman Herman's design skills were called upon. A black plaque honouring the five branches of our armed forces - the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard - was added to the existing slab. The second part of the expansion consisted of two "wings", mahogany granite slabs inset with polished black granite incised with the names of additional conflicts.

The final and ongoing phase of the project consists of paving the WalkWay to the Memorial with tribute stones. The expansion of the Memorial was dedicated on Memorial Day, 2006; and the site, with its backdrop of tall pines and flags, continues to serve as the location for Memorial Day and Veteran's Day services in Lincoln County.

This Memorial, like many others, began as a memorial to one war, but later expanded to include other conflicts, some not considered "wars" in the traditional sense, but all conflicts which have affected members of US armed services. This memorial was originally conceived around 1983 to honor Vietnam Veterans, who until the early 80's may have seemed somewhat neglected. At the end of the Vietnam conflict, the country seemed to want to forget rather than to memorialize it in any way, but this changed in 1982 with the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. The initial impetus to, and focus of, the Lincoln County Veterans' Memorial quickly expanded to include the First and Second World Wars, and the Korean War as well. The expansion of the Memorial twenty years later has included other wars which have or may have included participants from Lincoln County. These include the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the Cold War, Lebanon Peacekeeping, Grenada, Panama, Desert Storm, Somalia, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.


An American's Kind Of Town

Soldiers Grove is situated along the Kickapoo River and Baker Creek, in Wisconsin. It has a population of about 700 people.





















It is also the site of a magnificent Veterans Memorial and a park honoring Medal of Honor recipient Beauford T. Anderson.  It is not Unusual to see visitors unashamedly weep or to swallow hard.

The size of this war memorial, in a town this small, is awesome.

























The memorial is dedicated to "all Soldiers Grove area veterans who served in the Armed Forces of the United States." It was the culmination of a great deal of work and leadership by Mr. Roger Turnmire.

Here are seven panels with the names of area men who served in WWII. There are two more panels on the other side for WWII, totaling nine. There are two columns per panel, and about 30 names per column. That totals about 540 men.


























There are Four panels for the Korean War, with about another 240names. The war in Vietnam had 3.5 panels, that slightlyt over another 100 names.

"Soldier's Grove" is the kind of town that I lived in as a young boy.



























"When we look at a veteran, we should remember that, however ordinary he looks and sounds, he is different than we are. He knows things that we don't because civilian life doesn't teach them. 

We are never asked to die, or to kill, or to endure terror and horror day after day."