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Korean War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
Sgt. David B. Bleak, US Army
Three Who Acted
By Lane Phalen In the heat of battle, a young marine makes a life-saving decision
The Longest Night
You must have a body of steel, said President Dwight D. Eisenhower as he slipped the Medal of Honor Cpl. Duane E. Deweys neck. To the husky 20-year-old marine, it seemed he had just that on the longest night I ever lived.
Deweys nocturnal ordeal was hardly anything he could have imagined when he landed in Korea in October 1951. As the months rolled by, his time in Company E, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Reinforced) turned out to be unusually quiet. Indeed, the only thing that seemed to generate much excitement was a letter Dewey received from his wife announcing the birth of their daughter. Everyone in the company would get cigars, the Muskegon, Mich., native promised, once they returned to the MLR from reconnoitering a hill for enemy activity.
The hill, near Panmunjom, was quiet, as Dewey and his buddies in Company E bedded down the night of April 16, 1952. Undetected, though, more than 500 Chinese troops had moved into position below them. At 11 p.m., bugles and horns blared wildly, signaling the start of the enemy attack.
Dug in along a meandering trench line, First Marine Division machinegunners open up on enemy forces in their area.
Courtesy "Leatherneck" magazine/TSgt. Jack A. Slockbower
Surrounded, the marines fought viciously as grenade flashes lit the dark sky. Dewey fired his gun into the Chinese ranks for an hour before running low on ammunition. He then dashed 50 yards across the bullet-swept perimeter to retrieve more ammo. On the return trip, a red-hot piece of metal tore into Deweys left calf. Ignoring the intense pain, he started crawling when a medic found him and ripped open his pant leg. Just then, Dewey felt a hard object hit his waist. It was a grenade.
Pushing the medic away, he shouted a warning to his fellow marines, then rolled on top of the grenade, using his body to shield them from the blast, which lifted him a foot off the ground. The corpsman lunged to Deweys side, stuffed a field dressing into his gaping hip wound and called for another marine to help carry him to an aid station on the battlefield. Seeing that the station was already filled with wounded, they gently laid Dewey on the ground outside of it.
When Dewey, now nearly unconscious, recognized he was going into shock and needed to elevate his legs, he pulled himself to a shallow crater 20 yards from the aid station and slid into it, with his feet resting on the lip. For an hour he lay there while marines and Chinese fought close by. Another corpsman discovered Dewey, pulled him into a bunker and administered a shot of morphine to ease his pain.
Finally, at dawn, the enemy retreated, leaving the hill littered with the dead and wounded from both sides. Dewey spent the next two months in a hospital and received a medical discharge in August 1952. On Mar. 12, 1953, he was among the first six men to receive from President Eisenhower Americas highest military award for bravery. In 1987, Duane Dewey became a member of AMVETS Post 1988 in Baldwin, Mich., which was named in his honor.
An Army medics strong-arm tactics help to carry the day
Medic on a Mission
Chances are there would be casualties, and someone would be needed to take care of them. After all, thats a medics job, and Sgt. David B. Bleak had no illusions about what he would be called on to do after volunteering to accompany a reconnaissance patrol. A medic with the Armys 223rd Infantry Regiment, 40th Infantry Division, Bleak had heard the patrols mission was to engage the enemy and capture a prisoner for interrogation.
At daybreak on June 14, 1952, as he and his fellow Americans forged up Hill 499 near Minari-gol, Korea, they came under withering enemy machinegun fire. As men began to fall around him, the 20-year-old Idaho Falls, Idaho, native swung into action, darting to those who needed medical aid, pulling them to cover or offering words of encouragement.
During the battle, Bleak, a large man, saw a grenade bounce off a soldiers helmet and roll a few feet away. Without giving it a second thought, he threw himself at the soldier and they both tumbled to the ground, unhurt as the grenade exploded.
Three Chinese soldiers began firing at Bleak. After tackling the first and breaking his neck, Bleak used his massive hands to crush the windpipe of the second, then plunged his trench knife into the third mans chest. Meanwhile, the troops he accompanied drove the last of the enemy from the hill, except for a previously undetected machinegun. It opened fire, and three men fell.
Medics administer to wounded U.S. soldiers at an aid station in Korea.
Courtesy National Archives
As Bleak rushed to them, a bullet struck him in the leg. He dressed the wound and returned to the others. Two of the wounded soldiers could walk on their own, but the third had to be hoisted by Bleak onto his broad shoulders. As they headed down the hill, two Chinese soldiers charged Bleak with bayonets. He quickly lowered the soldier from his shoulders to the ground then focused on the enemy. Dodging their thrusts, Bleak managed to get a huge hand around each mans head, then slammed both heads together, cracking their skulls. He again picked up the American and continued on to safety.
On Oct. 27, 1953, David E. Bleak received the Medal of Honor from President Eisenhower.
His unit caught in an ambush, a kid from Detroit comes of age
A Life Changed
Pfc. Robert E. Simanek , a self-described 21-year-old little kid from Detroit, had been in Korea just six months when his life changed forever. It was Aug. 17, 1952, when Simanekassigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, as a radiomanfound himself on patrol with 16 other marines just south of the 38th parallel in western Korea.
Suddenly, without warning, the enemy struck, opening up on the surprised Americans with mortar and small-arms fire. Six of the men dove into a trench while the rest headed down the hill. While frantically radioing information back, Simanek fired the only weapon he had-a .45 pistol. Then grenade fragments tore through his boot and into his foot.
Genades were falling all over, Simanek recalled. When one fell near him and the five other marines in the trench, he knew he had to do something. With no thought to his own safety, Simanek threw himself on the grenade, absorbing the explosion and undoubtedly saving the others from being killed or seriously wounded. Immediately afterwards, he tried to make my legs move but couldnt. As the fighting raged on, Simanek was evacuated with wounds in his right hip and knee.
Once home, Simanek spent six months at Great Lakes Naval Base near Chicago undergoing intensive rehabilitation. On Oct. 27, 1953, he received the Medal of Honor from President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Robert Simanek is a member of AMVETS Post 1988 in Baldwin, Mich.
Lane Phalen is a freelance writer residing in Elburn, Ill. These are the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth articles in a series of stories on surviving Medal of Honor recipients from the Korean War.
CITATION:
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Medical Company 223d Infantry Regiment, 40th Infantry Division. Place and date: Vicinity of Minari-gol, Korea, 14 June 1952. Entered service at: Shelley, Idaho. Born: 27 February 1932, Idaho Falls, Idaho. G.O. No.: 83, 2 November 1953. Citation: Sgt. Bleak, a member of the medical company, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and indomitable courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. As a medical aidman, he 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 2 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 shifting 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 2 enemy soldiers with fixed bayonets. Closing with the aggressors, he grabbed them 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.
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