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World War II Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
Pvt. Richard Keith Sorenson, USMC
FIRST LIEUTENANT
RICHARD K. SORENSON, USMC
World War II 1941-1945
Medal of Honor Recipient
Former Marine First Lieutenant Richard Keith Sorenson, of New Brighton, Minnesota, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism at Kwajalein Atoll the night of 1-2 February 1944, when he threw himself on an exploding Japanese grenade to save the lives of five fellow Marines. Miraculously, although fragments of the grenade ripped through his thighs, hips, right arm and right leg, he lived through the action.
Then a private, he was serving with Company M of the 3d Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division, when he won the Nation's highest decoration.
After recovering from the wounds he suffered in this action and serving at several stations in the United States, the lieutenant was discharged from the Marine Corps as a sergeant in 1946, enlisting in the Marine Corps Reserve the following year. He was recalled to active duty in 1950 (later transferring to the regular Marine Corps), and had risen to the rank of master sergeant before he was appointed a temporary second lieutenant on 16 October 1953. The following year, he was promoted to first lieutenant, but on 18 November 1955, he voluntarily reverted to the rank of master sergeant in order to be discharged once more. He returned to civilian life the same day.
The son of a World War I Navy man, Lieutenant Sorenson was born 28 August 1924, at Anoka, Minnesota, where he graduated from high school in 1942. He enlisted in the Marine Corps on December 13th, of that year, at Minneapolis, and in January 1943, began his boot training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California. That March he completed boot camp, and the following month, he joined Company M of the 3d Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, at Camp Pendleton, California. There, he underwent intensive training with that unit before sailing with it for Kwajalein on 11 January 1944.
The lieutenant landed with his battalion at Namur on 1 February and after being wounded that night, he was treated aboard a transport, enroute to Hawaii. He was hospitalized at Pearl Harbor until May, when he was transferred to the U.S. Naval Hospital at Seattle, Washington, and there, on 19 July 1944, he was presented the Medal of Honor by Major General Joseph C. Fegan, then commanding the Department of the Pacific. (He had also been promoted to private first class the previous month.)
Released from the hospital later in July, Lieutenant Sorenson was ordered to the Marine Air Detachment at the Naval Air Station, Minneapolis, where he was promoted to corporal that August. The following month he was assigned to the headquarters of the Central Recruiting Division at Chicago, Illinois, and promoted to sergeant. He was transferred from Chicago to the Midwestern Recruiting Division at St. Louis, Missouri, in September 1945, and while attached to that division, served at the Marine Corps Recruiting Station, Fargo, North Dakota. From there he was ordered to Great Lakes, Illinois, where he was discharged 23 February 1946.
Back in civilian life, the lieutenant worked as a contact representative for the Veterans Administration in Minneapolis and Alexandria, Minnesota. He also attended St. Johns University at Collegeville, Minnesota, and enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve on 10 July 1947. He was ordered back to extended active duty on 17 November 1950, and for the next three years, was stationed at the Marine Corps Recruiting Station in Minneapolis. There, he was promoted to staff sergeant in May 1951, and to master sergeant in June 1953. In November 1953, following his appointment as a second lieutenant, he was ordered to the Marine Corps Schools at Quantico, Virginia, where he completed the Basic Course for Marine officers in April 1954.
After that, he served as Assistant Supply Officer of the 7th Engineer Battalion at Camp Pendleton, where he was appointed a first lieutenant in September 1954. He was transferred to the 2nd Replacement Battalion at Camp Pendleton in January 1955, and that March, was ordered overseas for duty with the 3d Engineer Battalion, 3d Marine Division. With that unit he served in Japan and on Okinawa before returning to the United States that November to be discharged.
In addition to the Medal of Honor and the Purple Heart Medal he received for the wounds he suffered at Kwajalein, the lieutenant holds the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal with one bronze star; the Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal with one bronze star; the American Area Campaign Medal; the World War II Victory Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.
10/14/04
WWII Medal of Honor recipient Sorenson, 80, dies in Reno
by L.A. Jones
Anoka County Union editor
Richard (Rick) K. Sorenson, 80, one of Anokas WWII heroes for whom a park was so designated, died suddenly Saturday, Oct. 9 in Reno, Nev. where he had lived since 1978.
Regarded as a 60-year miracle because he was not expected to survive after hurling himself onto a grenade at age 19 during WWII, Sorenson performed an act of valor which saved the lines of his machine gun crew. He received the nations highest military award, the Medal of Honor.
After his injury, the Lord sustained and strengthened him to go on to lead a successful life as a loving husband, father and grandfather while also attaining admirable professional achievements, according to his family.
Born Aug. 28, 1924 in Anoka, Sorenson was separated from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1946 and went to work as a contract representative with the Veterans Administration in Minneapolis.
There was a huge parade in Minneapolis and a huge one in Anoka at the time, said Virginia Ridge, a cousin whose mother was the sister Sorensons mother. There were only two years separating Sorenson and Ridge.
Several years ago, according to Ridge, Sorenson donated a huge Revolutionary War drum to the Anoka County Historical Society (ACHS), receiving further recognition in the process because of his love for history.
He served in various position at the Veterans Administration in Minneapolis until he entered St. Johns University neat St. Cloud to study business in 1948.
While attending college there, he met his lifetime companion and beloved wife of 55 years, Mildred, according to his family.
Sorenson was recalled to active duty in 1950 during the Korean War , was placed as a Marine recruiter and was ultimately commissioned to second lieutenant. He was then ordered to report to Marine Corps Basic School in Qauntico, Va. and assigned the the 7th Engineer Battalion at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
In January 1954, he received orders to report the 3rd Engineer Battalion at in Okinawa, Japan until resigning his commission in 1955 and returning to civilian life.
Sorenson resumed his employment with the Veterans Administration and remained there until 1957. He pursued a career as an insurance underwriter for Equitable Life Insurance for 10 years.
He made the decision to move to southern California in 1967, returning once again to the Veterans Administration where he advanced was promoted to division chief of the Veterans Service Department.
In 1978, he transferred to Reno as director of Veterans Affairs for all of Nevada and nine counties in California. He retired in 1985.
Always active in the communities in which he lived, Sorenson served on the St. Anthony Village Council, the homeowners board in Westlake Village, Calif. and Reno, on the board of directors for the United Way, on the Northern Nevada Boy Scout Council, as regional director of the Medal of Honor Society, on the board of directors of the Navy League, as chairman of the Bob Hope Patriot Award Dinner in 1976, and as a participant in the seventh War Bond Drive.
He was a member of the Marine Corps League both as a life member and chapter commander, 4th Marine Division Association, as chapter commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the American Legion, the VFW, the Knits of Malta, the Minneapolis Jaycees and the Reno Rotary Club.
His hobbies and pastimes included hunting, boating, fishing and traveling to many parts of the country and around the world. He was an avid reader, historian, artist and craftsman, patriot, dancer and an adept chess and Monopoly players.
As a wonderful dad and grandpa, he instilled passions for all these things in his children and grandchildren, according to his family.
Sorenson was preceded in death by his parents, Carl and Virginia Sorenson of Anoka. He his survived by his wife, Mildred; his five children, Robert Sorenson of Minneapolis, Wendy Thorson of Reno, Debby Hanaway of Reno, James Sorenson of Clearfield, Utah and Thomas Sorenson of Sparks, N.Y.; his seven grandchildren, Joseph, Megan, Brock, Karen, Elizabeth, Bryan and Luke; his brother, William Sorenson; his sister, M. Carol Atkins and numerous cousins.
A memorial service for Sorenson has been scheduled for Oct. 18 in Reno, after which his ashes will be flown back to Minneapolis for a memorial service and interment with full military honors to be announced at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made payable to the Medal of Honor Society Scholarship Fund, Nation Headquarters, 40 Patriots Point Road, Mt. Pleasant, S.C. 29464, 1-800-955-9859. Memorials may also be contributed to the Anoka County Historical Society.
CITATION:
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, 4th Marine Division. Place and date: Namur Island, Kwajalein Atoll Marshall Islands, 1 -2 February 1944. Entered service at: Minnesota. Born: 28 August 1924, Anoka, Minn. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with an assault battalion attached to the 4th Marine Division during the battle of Namur Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, on 1-2 February 1944. Putting up a brave defense against a particularly violent counterattack by the enemy during invasion operations, Pvt. Sorenson and 5 other marines occupying a shellhole were endangered by a Japanese grenade thrown into their midst. Unhesitatingly, and with complete disregard for his own safety, Pvt. Sorenson hurled himself upon the deadly weapon, heroically taking the full impact of the explosion. As a result of his gallant action, he was severely wounded, but the lives of his comrades were saved. His great personal valor and exceptional spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of almost certain death were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.
Medal of Honor recipient Richard K. Sorenson poses at home in November 2003
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