 Hero's
Honors: Veteran awarded medals 50 years after Pork Chop Hill
By
HUEY
FREEMAN -- H&R Staff Writer
Reprinted with permission of the Decatur (IL)Herald and Review. Click
here to go to the H&R
Decatur, IL, January 12, 2004--
One summer day a half century ago, Sgt. Richard Baughman was
machine-gunning enemy soldiers on a Korean hillside when a fragmentation
grenade exploded nearby, sending him sprawling into a barbed-wire fence.
On Monday afternoon at
the Illinois National Guard Armory, Baughman finally received medals
recognizing his heroic actions in that terrible battle on Pork Chop
Hill.
As Baughman, 73, stood
in a room filled with 40 people -- many of them members of the Korean
War Veterans Association, wearing their colors, blue blazers and dark
slacks -- while a National Guard officer read the official Army account
of the actions that earned him the Bronze Star.
"With total
disregard for his own safety, Sgt. Baughman commandeered a machine gun
and defended his unit's position, saving the lives of many of his
comrades and inflicting grievous losses on the enemy forces attacking
his unit," said
1st Lt. Stephan Toussaint of the 66th Infantry Brigade.
Lt. Col. Michael
Selby, the brigade's executive officer, pinned the Bronze Star and a
Purple Heart onto Baughman's sky blue Windbreaker.
Baughman
enthusiastically thanked everyone who helped him receive his long
overdue medals.
The rural Decatur
resident was a 22-year-old radioman with a maintenance job at General
Electric Co. when he was activated to fight in the struggle against the
North Korean and Chinese Communist troops.
The medals were
obtained through the efforts of Judy Hinds, staff assistant in the
Springfield office of Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Peoria, after a story on
Baughman ran in the Herald & Review this past Veteran's Day.
Baughman, who was a
member of the National Guard's 44th Infantry Division, serving with the
Army's 7th Division in Korea, said he might have received his medals
earlier had most of his company not been killed or wounded.
"There wasn't
anybody left to do it," Baughman recalls.
After shrapnel cut
open his chin and cheek on July 9, 1953, the fourth day of a fierce
battle for the hill, Baughman was taken to a hospital near Seoul for
treatment. When he returned to the front to find his unit, he discovered
he was just one of 12 men from a 188-man company who had not been killed
or seriously wounded.
As an armistice drew
near -- it was signed on July 27 -- Baughman boarded a ship to leave the
war-torn land.
"I was tickled to
death to come home," he said. "I'm lucky to be alive."
Although his Army
discharge form clearly states that Baughman was authorized to receive a
Purple Heart for being wounded in action, his earlier efforts to obtain
the medal with George Washington's profile on it were unsuccessful.
When Baughman
contacted LaHood's office in November, he also mentioned that an Army
captain in Korea had told him he was recommended for a Bronze Star for
his valorous actions. Apparently the Army found enough supporting
evidence to also award Baughman the Bronze Star, a medal given for
heroic service against an armed enemy.
Judy Baughman, the
honoree's wife of 23 years, said she was glad he finally received the
awards he deserves.
"He did such a
great thing with the machine gun," she said. "He said he
couldn't hit anything with a rifle. He threw (his rifle) away."
Annette Giberson,
Richard Baughman's daughter, said her father has always been a quiet
person who never talked about his life. She said Monday was a unique day
for her father.
"This is the
first time I've been at a ceremony celebrating anything in his
life," she said, struggling to contain her emotions.
Gary Puckett, Richard
Baughman's stepson, said the veteran has been on cloud nine since he
heard the news that he would receive his medals.
The Purple Heart, the
oldest military award in the world still in use today, was first
presented to Revolutionary War soldiers in 1783. The Bronze Star was
established in 1944 to recognize heroic and meritorious actions of those
who served in World War II.
Tim Butler, LaHood's
press secretary in Springfield, said there has been an increase in
requests for medals by veterans and their family members since 9/11.
He said Hinds obtained
Baughman's medals by contacting the National Personnel Records Center in
St. Louis. About five weeks after Richard Baughman contacted LaHood's
office, Hinds received the medals and forwarded them to the veteran, in
advance of the ceremony.
"These guys
deserve it," Butler said of the veterans who are finally receiving
their awards. "They have been out there preserving our freedoms,
and they deserve a token of our appreciation, such as a medal."
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