Beyond the call of duty--the Medal of Honor.

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The Medal of Honor is the supreme award this nation bestows on its armed forces for gallantry and intrepidity in combat above and beyond the call of duty. The deed performed must have been one of personal bravery or self sacrifice so extraordinary and conspicuous as to distinguish the individual above his comrades and must have involved risk of life. Only the President of the United States can award a Medal Honor. (1)

The following are two examples of Medal of Honor winners who did what was necessary to accomplish their missions and protect their comrades--even if it cost them their lives.

Some of the stories of Soldiers who earned medals including the Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star are on subsequent pages of this edition.

LTC John U.D. Page

Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) John Upshur Dennis Page attached to the 52nd Transportation Truck Battalion, X Corps Artillery, won the Medal of Honor for his actions at Chosin Reservoir in Korea from 29 November through 10 December 1950. He was one of seven Army and three Marine Artillerymen who won the Medal of Honor during the Korean War, 1950 to 1953. (2)

LTC Page, commissioned in 1926 as a Field Artillery officer in the Organized Reserves, was called to duty as an instructor at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. During World War II he commanded an Artillery battalion in Europe. In 1950, during the Korean War, he pulled strings to get overseas. The colonel was with the 1st Marine Division along with a few other Army troops at Chosin Reservoir during their battle against thousands of enemy troops. (3)

LTC Page was killed in action in 1950, when, concerned about the column of Marines and some Army Soldiers being ambushed at the bottom of a steep pass at Chosin Reservoir, he single-handedly assaulted the center of the enemy position, disorienting them and rallying the Americans. The following Medal of Honor citation, awarded posthumously, describes LTC Page's actions from 29 November through 10 December 1950.

"LTC Page, a member of X Corps Artillery, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty in a series of exploits. On 29 November, LTC Page left X Corps Headquarters at Hamhung with the mission of establishing traffic control on the main supply route to 1st Marine Division positions and those of some Army elements on the Chosin Reservoir plateau. Having completed his mission, LTC Page was free to return to the safety of Hamhung but chose to remain on the plateau to aid an isolated signal station, thus being cut off with elements of the Marine division.

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"After rescuing his jeep driver by breaking up an ambush near a destroyed bridge, LTC Page reached the lines of a surrounded Marine garrison at Kotori. He then voluntarily developed and trained a reserve force of assorted Army troops trapped with the Marines. By exemplary leadership and tireless devotion, he made an effective tactical unit available. In order that casualties might be evacuated, an airstrip was improvised on frozen ground partly outside of the Koto-ri defense perimeter which was continually under enemy attack. During two such attacks, LTC Page exposed himself on the airstrip to direct fire on the enemy and twice mounted the rear deck of a tank, manning the machine gun on the turret to drive the enemy back into a no man's land.

"On 3 December while being flown low over enemy lines in a light observation plane, LTC Page dropped hand grenades on Chinese positions and sprayed foxholes with automatic fire from his carbine. After 10 days of constant fighting, the Marine and Army units in the vicinity of the Chosin Reservoir had succeeded in gathering at the edge of the plateau, and LTC Page was flown to Hamhung to arrange for Artillery support of the beleaguered troops attempting to break out. Again LTC Page refused an opportunity to remain in safety and returned to give every assistance to his comrades. As the column slowly moved south LTC Page joined the rear guard. When it neared the entrance to a narrow pass, it came under frequent attacks on both flanks. Mounting an abandoned tank LTC Page manned the machine gun, braved heavy return fire, and covered the passing vehicles until the danger diminished. Later when another attack threatened his section of the convoy, then in the middle of the pass, LTC Page took a machine gun to the hillside and delivered effective counterfire, remaining exposed while men and vehicles passed through the ambuscade [ambush site].

"On the night of 10 December, the convoy reached the bottom of the pass but was halted by a strong enemy force at the front and on both flanks. Deadly small-arms fire poured into the column. Realizing the danger to the column as it lay motionless, LTC Page fought his way to the head of the column and plunged forward into the heart of the hostile position. His intrepid action so surprised the enemy that their ranks became disordered and suffered heavy casualties. Heedless of his safety, as he had been throughout the preceding 10 days, LTC Page remained forward, fiercely engaging the enemy single-handed until mortally wounded. By his valiant and aggressive spirit LTC Page enabled friendly forces to stand off the enemy. His outstanding courage, unswerving devotion to duty, and supreme self-sacrifice reflect great credit upon LTC Page and are in the highest tradition of the military service."

The Marine Corps awarded LTC Page a posthumous Navy Cross for his actions. (4)

One of the Military Sealift Command's container ships is named in honor of LTC Page. The MV LTC John U.S. Page is one of 34 ships in the Prepositioning Program that supports the US military with equipment and supplies using strategically positioned ships in the world's ocean.

Endnotes:

(1.) Major David T. Zabecki, "American Artillery and the Medal of Honor," Field Artillery (December 1987), 24.

(2.) David T. Zabecki, American Artillery and the Medal of Honor (Bennington, VT, Merriam Press, 2006), 49-40.

(3.) "The Army Reserve in the Korean War," available online at the United States of America Korean War Commemoration website http://korea50.army.mil/history/ factsheets/army_reserve.shtml.

(4.) Ibid.

Sergeant Mitchell W. Stout 

By W. Blair Case

Sergeant (SGT) Mitchell W. Stout is Air Defense Artillery's (ADA's) only Medal of Honor recipient; but, for decades, he's also been something of a mystery. It is surprising to discover how little the Branch actually knows about him. The Sergeant Mitchell W. Stout Physical Fitness Center at Fort Bliss, Texas, one of the installation's most prominent structures, is named after him, but there's nothing in the files except a blurry photograph and the Medal of Honor citation. Perhaps, earlier historians thought the citation was sufficient. Mitchell Stout, the Soldier, has been obscured by the aura that surrounds the Medal of Honor. In a sense, he's been ADA's "Unknown Soldier."

SGT Stout was killed in action in 1970 while his Duster unit guarded the Khe Gio Bridge. Located near a frequently beleaguered Marine outpost called The Rockpile, the vital bridge spanned a stream just below the demilitarized zone that separated South Vietnam from North Vietnam. The following Medal of Honor citation, describes SGT Stout's actions during a sapper attack on his unit's firing position.

"The Department of the Army awards the Medal of Honor posthumously to Sergeant Mitchell W. Stout, [social security number removed], United States Army, Battery C, 1st Battalion, 44th Artillery, who distinguished himself on March 12, 1970, during an attack by a North Vietnamese Army sapper company on his unit's firing position at Khe Gio Bridge, Republic of Vietnam. Sergeant Stout was in a bunker with members of a searchlight crew when the position came under heavy enemy mortar and ground attack. When the intensity of the mortar attack subsided, an enemy grenade was thrown into the bunker. Displaying great courage, Sergeant Stout ran to the grenade, picked it up, and started out of the bunker. As he reached the door, the grenade exploded. By holding the grenade close to his body and shielding its blast, he protected his fellow Soldiers in the bunker from further injury or death. Sergeant Stout's conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action, at the cost of his own life, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon his unit and the United States Army."

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Sapper attacks usually began with a mortar barrage designed to drive defenders into bunkers. As mortars rounds impacted inside defensive positions, sappers carrying satchel charges and grenades slithered through the tangled foot and concertina wire. Once inside the perimeter, they hurled their explosives into bunkers. Sometimes the defenders, mistaking the blast of exploding satchel charges and grenades for impacting mortar rounds, never realized they were under ground attack until it was too late.

SGT Mitchell Stout grew up in Tennessee, the same state as SGT Alvin York, World War I's most famous combat Soldier. The Medal of Honor citation leaves no doubt that SGT Mitchell Stout, like SGT York, was an authentic hero, at least during one adrenaline-charged moment, but it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. What type of Soldier, really, was SGT Mitchell Stout?

The US Army Air Defense Artillery School (USAADASCH) asked the Vietnam Duster, Quad 50, Searchlight and Hawk Association to help fill in the blanks. The association furnished the name of James R. (Buddy) White, a friend of Mitchell Stout's since high school days.

They don't call Tennessee the "Volunteer State" for nothing. When Congress asked Tennessee to furnish 3,000 volunteers to fight the Mexican War, 30,000 Tennesseans rushed to volunteer. But the Vietnam War split Tennessee, like the rest of the nation, into pro-war and antiwar factions. Buddy White, one of Mitchell Stout's high school buddies, found himself straddling the line.

"I had my doubts about the American involvement in Vietnam," said White. "I advised Mitchell, when he was home on leave, not to volunteer for a second tour. Why?" I asked.

"Maybe I can help someone," he answered.

"Mitchell thought the Army's replacement system sent Soldiers with too little training straight into combat in Vietnam," White recalled. "I thought the GIs who served in Vietnam got a rotten deal. They never got the recognition they deserved," said White. Outraged over the treatment accorded returning veterans and determined that Mitchell Stout's sacrifice would not be forgotten, White conceived and spearheaded a drive to convert Mitchell Stout's burial place into a memorial.

Today, White has to keep reminding people that he never served in Vietnam, but ADA Soldiers who pulled combat tours in Vietnam regard White as an "honorary" Vietnam Veteran. "I'm not one of them, but they are sort of like cousins," White says.

Thanks to Buddy White, the SGT Mitchell W. Stout file at Fort Bliss is no longer an almost empty folder. The information reveals that SGT Mitchell Stout's Medal of Honor was no fluke. A typical American youth, Mitchell Stout became an outstanding Soldier who exemplified the Army's Core Values: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity and Personal Courage.

W. Blair Case is the Editor of Air Defense Artillery Online, an Internet-only publication produced by the US Army Air Defense Artillery School, Fort Bliss, Texas. He served as editor of Air Defense Artillery magazine from December 1981 until December 2006, when Air Defense Artillery and Field Artillery merged to create the Fires Bulletin. He was commissioned as a Field Artillery second lieutenant upon graduation from the Artillery Officer Candidate Course, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1968 and served one tour of duty in Vietnam as a Field Artillery Forward Observer and Liaison Officer with the 2nd Battalion, 319th Artillery, 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile).