Medal of Honor history: Lewis Millett
war·rior
If there is a picture of someone next to the word “warrior” in the dictionary, it would be Lewis Millett.
The man joined the Army in 1940 to fight the fascists in Europe, but left the service when he figured out that the U.S. wouldn’t enter the war. But instead of deserting to run from battle, Millett did so to run to battle, joining the Canadian armed forces, where he fought in England.
When the U.S. joined the war in 1942, Millet was able to transfer back to the American Army. Joining the 1st Armored Division, Millett earned the Silver Star – the nation’s third-highest award for valor – for his actions in North Africa. He also fought at Salerno and Anzio, but paperwork suggesting he had “deserted” in 1940 (by going to Canada) caught up to Millett. He was court-martialed, demoted to private, and fined $52.
However following his punishment, Millett received a battlefield promotion to second lieutenant and a Bronze Star.
In his second war, Millett was the Company Commander in the 27th Infantry Regiment during the Korean War. On February 7, 1951 on Hill 180 (present-day Osan Air Base in South Korea), he led an incredibly daring assault in what is believed to be the last bayonet charge in American military history. And it is worth noting that the CO that Millett replaced also was awarded the Medal of Honor, but posthumously.
After the Korean War, Gen. William Westmoreland picked Millett to command the Recondo school, which produced some of the world’s finest jungle warriors.
The man took something as tame as retirement and kicked it up a notch: Millett retired in 1971 because he felt the U.S. no longer wanted to win in Vietnam. He took up work as a sheriff’s deputy.
There is so much more to the warrior, who unfortunately passed away in November. Please read the other posts about Col. Millett here.
In: Military History · Tagged with: "Wolfhounds", 27th Infantry Regiment, Col. Lewis L. "Red" Millett, Korean War, Lewis Millett, Medal of Honor, Recondo, US Army, Vietnam War
Medal of Honor Citations
Capt. Regniald B. Desiderio
Starting today, Unto the Breach will post citations of actions that earned the Medal of Honor.
Today’s featured recipient is Captain Eugene B. Desiderio, the company commander of Echo Company, 27th Infantry Regiment. 59 years ago, Capt. Desiderio and his men repelled an enemy attack by charging with rifles and grenades, despite having been wounded twice before the charge. Desiderio was mortally wounded during the attack.
His citation can be found here, and citations for other Medal of Honor recipients can be found in the “Hall of Heroes” category located on the blog sidebar.
Desiderio’s replacement was Capt. Lewis Millett, whom also earned the Medal in a bayonet charge that following February.
In: Military History · Tagged with: "Wolfhounds", 27th Infantry Regiment, Col. Lewis L. "Red" Millett, Medal of Honor, Reginald B. Desiderio, Reginald Desiderio
Col. Millett’s Silver Star
The Washington Post has more on Col. Lewis Millett, the recently departed Medal of Honor recipient:
As an antitank gunner in Tunisia, he earned the Silver Star after he jumped into a burning ammunition-filled halftrack, drove it away from allied soldiers and leapt to safety just before the vehicle exploded. Not long after, he shot down a German Messerschmitt Me-109 fighter that was strafing Allied troops. Col. Millett, who was firing from machine guns mounted on a halftrack, hit the pilot through the windshield.
Millett fought in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.
Reflecting on his career, Col. Millett once told an interviewer: “I believe in freedom, I believe deeply in it. I’ve fought in three wars, and volunteered for all of them, because I believed as a free man, that it was my duty to help those under the attack of tyranny. Just as simple as that.”
In: Military History · Tagged with: Col. Lewis L. "Red" Millett, Silver Star, World War II
Medal of Honor Awarded to Two E/27th Commanders within 3 Months
27th Infantry Regiment insignia "Fear No Difficulties"
Military History magazine conducted a great interview in 2002 with the late Medal of Honor recipient Col. Lewis Millett.
Among many other new things I learned about Col. Millett, I read that the commander whom Millett replaced, Capt. Reginald B. Desiderio, was also awarded the Medal of Honor (posthumously) for his actions. Only three months after Desiderio’s actions, Millett’s bayonet charge would earn him the medal as well.
Desiderio also fought in Southern France and Germany during World War II, earning a Silver Star, Purple Heart, and four Bronze Stars for courage.
In: Military History · Tagged with: "Wolfhounds", 27th Infantry Regiment, Bronze Star, Col. Lewis L. "Red" Millett, Korean War, Lewis Millett, Medal of Honor, Reginald B. Desiderio, Reginald Desiderio, Silver Star, US Army, World War II
Medal of Honor recipient Lewis Millett, hero of Battle of Bayonet Hill, passes
[Originally published at The US Report]
In 1940, Lewis L. “Red” Millett, a 17 year old native of Mechanic Falls, Maine, dropped out of high school and joined the Army Air Corps in order to fight the increasing fascist threat in Europe. But when President Roosevelt stated that the U.S. would not be entering the war, Millett decided to pack his bags and head to Canada – not to avoid combat, but to seek it out as part of the Canadian army. He was sent to London where he served as an anti-aircraft gunner during the Nazi’s “Blitz” bombing campaign.
“I deeply believe that if you’re a free man, then you should stand up and support freedom wherever it is,” Millett said during an interview on the 2003 PBS documentary American Valor.
When the U.S. joined the war in 1942, Millet was able to transfer back to the American Army. Joining the 1st Armored Division, Millett earned the Silver Star – the nation’s third-highest award for valor – for his actions in North Africa. He also fought at Salerno and Anzio, but paperwork suggesting he had “deserted” in 1940 (by going to Canada) caught up to Millett. He was court-martialed, demoted to private, and fined $52.
However following his punishment, Millett received a battlefield promotion to second lieutenant and a Bronze Star.
Then on Feb. 7, 1951 during the Korean War, Millett – who had been promoted to Captain – was leading an under-strength company of 27th Infantry Regiment “Wolfhounds” against a strongly held enemy position on Hill 180, which is now part of Osan Air Base in South Korea.
“The Chinese had put out the word that we were afraid of bayonets,” Millett told Stars and Stripes in a 1975 interview. “‘Americans afraid of bayonets’ is just ridiculous, I thought, so I intended to prove a point.”
During the attack, one of Millett’s platoons became pinned down by small-arms, automatic, and “buffalo gun” anti-tank fire. Millett ordered another platoon forward, telling his men to “Fix bayonets and follow me!”
Despite being wounded by a grenade blast, Millett charged forward – firing his rifle, throwing grenades, and striking enemies with his rifle and bayonet. When Millett reached a three-man buffalo gun emplacement, he killed all three with his bayonet. Once at the top of the hill, Millett waved his rifle over his head, encouraging his men by shouting “Grenades and cold steel!” – while still fighting the enemy.
Col. Lewis L. Millett in a 2003 Veteran's Day parade in Palm Springs, Calif. (The Press-Enterprise/Terry Pierson)
Millett’s charge was so effective that the remaining Communist forces fled, but not before 47 North Korean and Chinese soldiers lay dead, 18 of which had been killed by bayonets.
Capt. Millett was awarded the Medal of Honor – the nation’s highest decoration for valor – for his actions on Hill 180, which came to be known as the Battle of Bayonet Hill.
“I was surprised, I never expected it,” Millett told Stars and Stripes. “Of course, a lot of real fine people had to die so that a few might get decorated. There’s an awful lot of men who lie buried over here, and the only recognition they received was the purple heart.”
Lewis L. Millett, 88, passed away Saturday morning in Loma Linda, Calif. His passing means that only 93 living recipients of America’s Medal of Honor remain.
In Sept. 2010, the Medal of Honor Society will hold its national convention in Charleston, S.C., giving Americans the opportunity to honor those like Lewis Millett who have given so much for this country.
In: Military History · Tagged with: Battle of Bayonet Hill, Col. Lewis L. "Red" Millett, Korean War, Lewis Millett, Medal of Honor, US Army, World War II
Col. Millett’s speech from Hill 180 Remembrance Day
Col. Lewis L. Millett (Photo by Nick Del Calzo)
Col. Lewis Millett’s speech on Hill 180 Remembrance Day
Feb. 6, 1998
AMERICA, THE LAST FREE SOCIETY FOUNDED IN LIBERTY UNDER GOD, STILL EXISTS A THREAD OF HOPE IN THE FABRIC OF A WORLD REPLETE WITH TYRANNY TOWARDS MAN AND TREASON TOWARDS GOD. WE ARE STILL FREE BECAUSE MEN OF HONOR AND COURAGE DEEPLY BELIEVED THAT THE DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS A NOBLE CAUSE.
Shortly after the liberation of Rome in 1944, I had the opportunity to visit the Sistine Chapel and observe Michelangelo’s portrayal of our Creator reaching out to touch the fashioned clay that would be mankind. When our Creator breathed the fire of life into the dust that was to be man, He imbued in man’s soul a spark of Freedom. Tyrants, since the dawn of creation have attempted to destroy man’s desire to worship his Creator and to stifle and smother that spark of Freedom.
In the coliseum of Rome, on the steppes of Russia, in the concentration camps of Europe, in the rice paddies of China, on the jungle floor of Vietnam and Cambodia, in the mountains of Laos and Afghanistan, on the desert of Arabia, in the land once called Yugoslavia lie the bodies and bones, the dust of countless millions who are martyrs to the cause of Freedom.
In 1856 a poet stood in a square in Budapest, Hungary, and shouted to a multitude fighting against the tyranny of Russia, “Shall we free men be, or slave? Choose the lot your spirit craves!” Thousands of young Americans who never heard these words have volunteered to fight against the cause of tyranny because they believed in Freedom.
In: Military History · Tagged with: Battle of Bayonet Hill, Col. Lewis L. "Red" Millett, Hill 180, Korean War, Lewis Millett
A Soldier’s Prayer
Col. Lewis Millett in South Korea, 1975. (Tae Won Chung / Stars and Stripes)
Medal of Honor recipient Col. Lewis Millett – who passed away this Saturday – wrote this poem in memory of soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice, especially his youngest son who was one of 248 soldiers killed while returning from a peacekeeping mission in Sinai, Egypt in 1985.
A SOLDIER’S PRAYER – by Col. Lewis L. Millett
I’ve fought when others feared to serve.
I’ve gone where many failed to go.
I’ve lost friends in war and strife, who valued duty over the love of life.
I’ve shared the comradeship of pain
I’ve searched these lands for men that we’ve lost.
I’ve sons who’ve served our land of liberty who’d fight to see that other lands are free.
I’ve seen the weak forsake humanity.
I’ve heard fakers praise our enemy.
I’ve seen challenged men stand ever bolder.
I’ve seen the duty, the honor, the sacrifice of the soldier.
Now, I understand the meaning of all lives,
The lives of comrades of not so long ago.
So to you who answered duties siren call, may
God bless you my son, may God bless you all.
In: Military History · Tagged with: Col. Lewis L. "Red" Millett, Lewis Millett, Medal of Honor
Lewis L. “Red” Millett Medal of Honor Citation
The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pleasure in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR to
CAPTAIN
LEWIS LEE “RED” MILLETT
ARMY
for service as set forth in the following
CITATION:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Company E, 2d Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, in action against enemy aggressor forces at Hill 180, Soam-Ni, Korea, on 7 February 1951. While personally leading his company in an attack against a strongly held position Captain Millett noted that the 1st Platoon was pinned down by small-arms, automatic, and antitank fire. Captain Millett ordered the 3d Platoon forward, placed himself at the head of the two platoons, and, with fixed bayonet, led the assault up the fire-swept hill. In the fierce charge Captain Millett bayoneted two enemy soldiers and boldly continued on, throwing grenades, clubbing and bayoneting the enemy, while urging his men forward by shouting encouragement. Despite vicious opposing fire, the whirlwind hand-to-hand assault carried to the crest of the hill. His dauntless leadership and personal courage so inspired his men that they stormed into the hostile position and used their bayonets with such lethal effect that the enemy fled in wild disorder. During this fierce onslaught Captain Millett was wounded by grenade fragments but refused evacuation until the objective was taken and firmly secured. The superb leadership, conspicuous courage, and consummate devotion to duty demonstrated by Captain Millett were directly responsible for the successful accomplishment of a hazardous mission and reflect the highest credit on himself and the heroic traditions of the military service.
In: Hall of Heroes · Tagged with: "Wolfhounds", 27th Infantry Regiment, Col. Lewis L. "Red" Millett, Korean War, Lewis Millett, Medal of Honor
