| |
| |
Korean War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
2nd Lt. Robert Dale Reem, USMC
Marine Second Lieutenant Robert Dale Reem earned the Medal of Honor in Korea when he threw himself on an enemy grenade, sacrificing his own life to save his men.
The 26-year-old Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, Marine was commanding an infantry platoon near Chinhung-ni, North Korea, on 26 December 1950. He was preparing his men for an assault on an enemy position when the grenade landed among them. Without hesitation he smothered the grenades explosion with his own body to save the rest of the group from death or serious injury.
The medal was presented to the lieutenants widow, Mrs. Donna Z. Reem, by Secretary of the Navy Dan Kimball, in ceremonies 8 February 1952, at Washington, D.C. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey E. Reem, Jr., of Mount Joy, Pennsylvania.
Lieutenant Reem was a former page in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He was born 20 October 1925, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, served as a page from January to May 1943, and graduated from Elizabethtown High School that June.
He enlisted in the Marine Corps in August 1943, completed his recruit training at Parris Island, South Carolina, in October and was selected for appointment to the Naval Academy at that time. He attended the Naval Academy Preparatory School at the Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, Maryland, before entering the Academy in June 1944.
Lieutenant Reem was commissioned a Marine second lieutenant 4 June 1948, upon his graduation from Annapolis. In June 1949, he completed the Basic School at Quantico, Virginia, where he remained with the Special Training Regiment until that August. In December 1949, after several months at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, with the 3d Battalion, 6th Marines, 2d Marine Division, he was assigned with the battalion to duty with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean.
In August 1950, the battalion was ordered to Korea, where it joined the 7th Marines of the 1st Marine Division. Lieutenant Reem fought with his battalion in the Inchon landing, the capture of Seoul, and the fighting in North Korea. He was buried in the United Nations Cemetery near Hamhung, North Korea.
In addition to the Medal of Honor, his decorations include: the Purple Heart Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation with one Bronze Star, the Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Stars, the American Area Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.
CITATION:
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps, Company H, 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Vicinity Chinhung-ni, Korea, 6 November 1950. Entered service at: Elizabethtown, Pa. Born: 20 October 1925, Lancaster, Pa. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a platoon commander in Company H, in action against enemy aggressor forces. Grimly determined to dislodge a group of heavy enemy infantry units occupying well-concealed and strongly fortified positions on commanding ground overlooking unprotected terrain. 2d Lt. Reem moved slowly forward up the side of the ridge with his platoon in the face of a veritable hail of shattering hostile machine gun, grenade, and rifle fire. Three times repulsed by a resolute enemy force in achieving his objective, and pinned down by the continuing fury of hostile fire, he rallied and regrouped the heroic men in his depleted and disorganized platoon in preparation for a fourth attack. Issuing last-minute orders to his noncommissioned officers when an enemy grenade landed in a depression of the rocky ground in which the group was standing, 2d Lt. Reem unhesitatingly chose to sacrifice himself and, springing upon the deadly missile, absorbed the full impact of the explosion in his body, thus protecting others from serious injury and possible death. Stouthearted and indomitable, he readily yielded his own chance of survival that his subordinate leaders might live to carry on the fight against a fanatic enemy. His superb courage, cool decisiveness, and valiant spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of certain death reflect the highest credit upon 2d Lt. Reem and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country .
|
|
|
|
|
Articles & Briefings
