Extraordinary heroism abounded during the , for which 133 Medals of Honor were awarded. Two of the medals were awarded since 2005; two others have been recommended, with one pending a formal ceremony. By Robert Widener Courage Beyond Belief

Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson Keeble his native Hungary, but he chose On Oct. 20, 1951, Army Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson Keeble was serving with G instead to stay with his fellow Ameri- Co., 2nd Bn., 19th Inf. Regt., 24th Inf. Div., near Sangsan-ni in North Korea. Keeble, cans in the prison camp known as a full-blooded Sioux from Wahpeton, N.D., led three failed assaults on deeply “Death Valley.” entrenched Chinese soldiers who had pinned down his unit. With mounting casual- There he applied the survival skills ties, he decided to attempt it alone. that had kept him alive in the Nazi con- Bleeding through his bandages from wounds after six days of round-the-clock centration camp. He used maggots fighting, the 34-year-old Keeble scaled a rocky hilltop with a Browning Automatic from the latrine to halt gangrene in fes- Rifle and grenades. All the while, Chinese soldiers lobbed grenade after grenade tering wounds, thus saving lives. He trying to stop his approach. stole food from the enemy’s storehous- Keeble single-handedly knocked out three Communist pillboxes and cleared es and gardens, and showed others how two trenches of Chinese riflemen in a solo assault, killing 16 in all. In the process, to make a soup from grass. These and he was wounded five times and absorbed 83 grenade fragments. other acts became an inspiration to his A WWII Pacific veteran of the Americal Division, Keeble was being recruited by fellow POWs. the Chicago White Sox because of his reportedly 100mph fastball. His baseball “I wasn’t worried about me,” said career was cut short, though, when his North Dakota Army National Guard unit, Rubin in an Army Times interview the 164th Infantry Regiment, was called to service. That pitching arm later proved a “There were terrible moments that encompassed a formidable weapon for hurling deadly- lifetime, an endlessness when terror was so strong accurate grenades. One of his fellow soldiers remarked, “The safest place to in me, that I could feel idiocy replace reason … be was right next to Woody.” —Army Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson Keeble The original paperwork for his MOH nomination was lost twice, so it took congressional action and a presidential waiver to finally have the medal about his 30 months as a POW. “I was posthumously awarded on March 3, 2009, 56 years after the heroic deed was done. worried about my fellow countrymen On courage, Keeble once related: “There were terrible moments that encom- from the . I had all my passed a lifetime, an endlessness when terror was so strong in me, that I could feel experience, and I was going to use it to idiocy replace reason… Fear did not make a coward out of me.” help some of my fellow American GIs.” In all, Keeble received 30 decorations, including four Purple Hearts, two Silver Recommended for the Medal of Stars and two Bronze Stars for valor. He was a VFW member of Post 4324 in Honor at the time, his anti-Semitic Wahpeton, N.D. He died of a stroke on Jan. 28, 1982, at the age of 65. sergeant had thrown away the paper- work. It was only through the efforts of Cpl. Tibor Rubin former prisoners and Jewish veterans After being liberated from the Nazi concentration camp at Mauthausen, Austria, that he finally received the country’s during WWII, 15-year-old Tibor Rubin, a Hungarian Jew, vowed to one day join his highest military award on Sept. 23, liberators and fight alongside them. His wish came true in 1948 when he immigrat- 2005, at the age of 76. ed to the U.S., joining the U.S. Army two years later. Serving as a rifleman with I Co., 8th Cav Regt., 1st Cav Div., Cpl. Rubin single- Pfc. Anthony T. Kahoohanohano handedly held off a North Korean attack near Unsan on Oct. 30, 1950, allowing (Pending) remnants of his unit to retreat southward. After manning a machine gun, Rubin A native of Maui, Hawaii, Pfc. Anthony scrambled from foxhole to foxhole wildly firing weapons and tossing hand T. Kahoohanohano was in charge of a grenades to make the enemy believe they faced a larger number. machine-gun squad of H Co., 2nd Bn., He eventually was wounded and captured. The Chinese offered to return him to 17th Inf. Regt., 7th Div., near Chup’a-ri

30 • VFW • June/July 2010 DOD PHOTO U.S. ARMY PHOTO PAUL MORSEPAUL / WHITE HOUSE PHOTO KAPAUN-MT. CARMEL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL CARMEL CATHOLIC KAPAUN-MT.

Woodrow Wilson Keeble Tibor Rubin Anthony T. Kahoohanohano Emil J. Kapaun

on Sept. 1, 1951 (see story on page 36). Capt. Emil J. Kapaun Dismas, the Good Thief who was cruci- The squad was tasked to support the (Recommended) fied alongside Christ. Thus at night, he defensive positions of F Company, but a A native of Pilsen, Kan., Capt. Emil J. led others on food raids into the corn- fierce Chinese attack forced his unit to Kapaun was assigned to the front lines fields or guard huts, returning with withdraw. in Korea as a chaplain with the 3rd Bn., corn, potatoes or salt for the starving Kahoohanohano provided covering 8th Cav Regt., 1st Cav Div. Staying prisoners. He once showed up in the fire while his squad took up a more behind to help the wounded when their officer’s compound with a 100-pound defensible position. Despite a shoulder position was overrun near Unsan, the bag of rice. wound, he gathered ammunition and Roman Catholic priest was captured Kapaun defied his North Korean cap- grenades, and returned to the original Nov. 2, 1950. tors by sneaking into the enlisted men’s emplacement to face the enemy alone. At the time of his capture, he saw a quarters in order to boost their morale. Kahoohanohano delivered devastating- Chinese soldier preparing to shoot a When caught, he sometimes was forced ly accurate fire into the ranks of the wounded American. He pushed aside to stand stripped naked on ice. onrushing Communists. When his the enemy’s rifle and helped the Neglecting himself over time, the ammunition ran out, he picked up an wounded man, carrying him on his emaciated clergyman grew weaker. He entrenching tool, fighting hand-to- back part way during a 100-mile march had lost the sight of one eye from a hand until being killed. wood chip while chopping firewood, His heroic stand so and soon began walking with great dif- inspired his fellow soldiers ficulty on account of a blood clot in his that they launched a coun- Honoring Bravery leg. He weakened even more from terattack, retaking the posi- dysentery, and eventually died on May Total number of awards tion. Eleven dead Chinese in the Korean War. 23, 1951, at age 35. were found outside Kahoo- Kapaun was awarded a Distinguished hanohano’s emplacement, MedalMedal of of Honor Honor 133133 Service Cross and a Bronze Star. and two others inside had DSC,DSC, Navy Navy Cross Cross*972 972 Currently, his recommendation for the been beaten to death. SilverSilver Star Star 12,14612,146 has passed several Kahoohanohano, the son approval points, and will soon come LegionLegion of of Merit Merit3,882 3,882 of a police officer, grew up in before Congress. Seven chaplains have BronzeBronze Star Star 85,00085,000 Wailuku. His younger broth- 136,913 earned the Medal of Honor. er, David, described him as a Purple Heart 136,913 One fellow prisoner remarked on protector who got him out Source:Source: VFW VFW Magazine, Magazine,MayMay 1966. 1966. Kapaun’s heroic acts: “He was the sym- of trouble when they were * The Air Force Cross was not awarded until 1962. bol of something the enemy knew he young boys. could not kill—the unconquerable For his actions, Kahoohanohano was to a prison camp at Sombakol. spirit of a free man, owing final alle- posthumously awarded the Distin- There, and later at another camp at giance only to God.” guished Service Cross. His brother, Abel, Pyoktong, Kapaun washed the men’s In addition, the Roman Catholic mounted an effort in the late 1990s to bandages and picked lice from their Church is considering “the priest in have it upgraded to the Medal of Honor. bodies. He took care of those who were combat boots” for sainthood. He is The request was formally approved debilitated by dysentery, and stole presently named a “Servant of God,”the in March 2009, and the medal will be medicine to help their condition. Once first of four stages of canonization. presented at a future White House cere- he traded his watch for a blanket, using mony. All six Kahoohanohano brothers it to make socks for others. E-mail [email protected] served in the military. Kapaun prayed for guidance to St.

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