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Old 06-25-2022, 01:04 PM
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Unhappy This Union Soldier Was the First Man to Be Awarded the Medal of Honor Twice

This Union Soldier Was the First Man to Be Awarded the Medal of Honor Twice
By: James Barber - Military.com News - 06-25-22
Re: https://www.military.com/off-duty/bo...nor-twice.html

Painting of Tom Custer (AUSA)
Re: https://images01.military.com/sites/...?itok=IBZqXCsI

Tom Custer was determined to join the U.S. Army after his older brother, George, graduated from West Point in 1861. His family at first stopped him, but relented in September and signed for Tom to enlist at age 16.

As the Civil War raged, Tom Custer fought in a succession of battles at Waynesboro, Dinwiddie Courthouse and Five Forks and was eventually promoted to major. Custer captured Confederate colors at the Battle of Namozine Church in Virginia on April 3, 1865, by leaping behind enemy lines on horseback and capturing three officers and 11 enlisted men, along with the flag.

At the Battle of Sailor's Creek on April 6, Custer repeated the feat, charging across Confederate lines on horseback, taking a grazing shot to the face and again capturing the flag. Three days later, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee formally surrendered to U.S. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox.

After the Civil War, Tom Custer followed his older brother to the western territories to fight in the Indian Wars. By the time of the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, Tom Custer was serving as aide-de-camp to his older brother, Lt. Col. George Custer, and their younger brother, Boston, served alongside his siblings. All three men were killed in battle on June 25, 1876.

Custer was the first man to be awarded the Medal of Honor twice, for his actions at Namozine Church and Sailor’s Creek. His story is being told in "Medal of Honor: Tom Custer," the latest issue of the Association of the United States Army's graphic novel series. You can view or download a free copy at www.ausa.org/custer.

2nd painting: https://images04.military.com/sites/...?itok=tPH7KFfo
By AUSA

Note: [In it's current 2022 series, AUSA previously released a book about WWII Buffalo Soldier Vernon Baker and Korean War veteran Ralph Puckett. The organization will also release a graphic novel about Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart, the Delta operators who gave their lives in the Black Hawk Down incident.]
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A 2nd story about: MitchellRed Cloud Jr. 13 Jul 2021
[A Painting from AUSA ]
Re: https://images02.military.com/sites/...?itok=h8lZHJsE
Mitchell Red Cloud Jr. came from a long and proud tradition of Native American service in the U.S. military. Red Cloud, who served in both World War II and Korea, received one of the 29 Medals of Honor that have been awarded to Native Americans "for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty, in actual combat against an armed enemy force."

He served in the Marine Corps during World War II, left the service after the war but enlisted in the U.S. Army as an infantryman in 1948. Sent to fight in Korea, he was killed in action during a Chinese assault in 1950 at age 25 and received a posthumous Medal of Honor for his actions.

Now, Red Cloud's story is being told in "Medal of Honor: Mitchell Red Cloud Jr.," the latest issue of the Association of the United States Army's graphic novel series. You can view or download a free copy at www.ausa.org/redcloud.

Red Cloud's World War II story is notable on its own. The Wisconsin native was a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation. Born in 1925, he dropped out of high school to join the Marine Corps. He was injured during the invasion of Guadalcanal as a Marine Raider.

His injuries forced him back stateside for recovery and should have qualified him for a medical discharge, but Red Cloud managed to get back to the Pacific with the 6th Marine Division, where he participated in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. He was shot in that battle and awarded a Purple Heart.

Back home after the war, Red Cloud decided he missed military life and enlisted in the Army in 1948. Sent to Korea in 1950 with the 19th Infantry, 24th Infantry Division, he was among the first U.S. troops on the ground in the conflict.

A corporal, he was on the tip of the spear, leading his men as American troops rapidly pushed north in the summer of 1950. The Chinese government, feeling threatened by U.S. forces so close to its border, sent 500,000 Chinese soldiers to the front in hopes of slowing the American advance.

On Nov. 5, 1950, Red Cloud was manning a forward observation at the Chongchon River. He was the first to notice an impending Chinese attack and alerted his men, foiling the enemy's element of surprise. Injured, he ordered his men to tie him to a tree, where he held off enemy troops long enough for his unit to repel the attack despite being shot eight times.

Red Cloud didn't survive the battle. His men located his body the next day, surrounded by the bodies of Chinese soldiers that he had killed as he slowed the attack. Gen. Omar Bradley presented Red Cloud's mother with his Medal of Honor in a ceremony at the Pentagon in April 1951.

We talk about World War II and Vietnam all the time but often fail to recognize the sacrifices of those who served in Korea. The Medal of Honor was awarded to 146 men for their actions in the Korean War. Red Cloud died only 3 1/2 months after the first Medal of Honor action in Korea, but he was already the 32nd recipient during the conflict; 27 of those were awarded posthumously.

In its current series, AUSA has released a graphic novel about Jacob Parrott, the Union Army soldier who was the first Medal of Honor recipient. It will publish two more Medal of Honor graphic novels this year, featuring Wild Bill Donovan, the World War I hero who later founded the World War II Office of Strategic Services, and Roger Donlon, the first recipient from the Vietnam War and the first Special Forces recipient.
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Personal note: My Uncle Bill Stern fought in WWII & Korea US Marine. He never
said a hell of lot he had three Brothers. After serving in two actions he was finally
done with the Marines and went home.
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My Uncle Bill was a quite man - worked with his Brother's tearing old cars down
in a junk yard on weekends. Uncle Bill suffered horendous nightmares of the war
and especially the Korean one. One day he decided to talk to me about his
service which was rare he never even told his brother's They didn't know all he
went through and the horror and butchery of that was gave him nightmares
until his passing.
-
He always called me Kid - we'd talk and once an awhile I'd get him to
laugh which was rare. My Dad and his other brothers would tell me not
to talk to Bill about the war as he as terrible nightmares and often times
relived in his dream the battle he fought in. Moreso loosing so many of
his Bud's in Korea. It got so bad Uncle Bill would drink a quart of whisky
just to fall to sleep. Eventually he could hold a job and his nightmares
we're very graphic and the lose of his fellows and seeing many butchered
was more than he could bare. He died one night in bed after consuming
a quart and a half of whisky. His liver explode and bled to death in bed.
-
He was a piece now - and on his way to meet with his fellow's that had
gone before him.
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He was funny every now and then but was told not to give me the
graphic details of the whore he went thru. He and I got along
and I wouldn't press him for his service - other than tell him I had
enlised for Nam duty. He said Kid - grow eye's in the back of
your head - and make sure you don't make close friends - as
some may not be coming back.
-
How true that was - we lost a few in our division and some were
pretty graphic as well. I tucked those issues away but never
forgot them or my Uncle Bill.
-
I also lost my Brother from AO from NAM duty (US Army)
Six guys from our neighborhood and few later from AO.
I miss them all - God Be With Them they are now at
Peace with their Brothers at Arms.
-
__________________
Boats

O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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