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PFC Brown, Melvin L. Army
Medal of Honor
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS MELVIN L. BROWN
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company D, 8th Engineer Combat Battalion. Place and date: Near Kasan, Korea, 4 September 1950. Entered service at: Erie, Pa. Birth: Mahaffey, Pa. G.O. No.: 11, 16 February 1951.
Citation. Pfc. Brown, Company D distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. While his platoon was securing Hill 755 (the Walled City), the enemy, using heavy automatic weapons and small arms, counterattacked. Taking a position on a 50-foot-high wall he delivered heavy rifle fire on the enemy. His ammunition was soon expended and although wounded, he remained at his post and threw his few grenades into the attackers causing many casualties. When his supply of grenades was exhausted his comrades from nearby foxholes tossed others to him and he left his position, braving a hail of fire, to retrieve and throw them at the enemy. The attackers continued to assault his position and Pfc. Brown weaponless, drew his entrenching tool from his pack and calmly waited until they 1 by 1 peered over the wall, delivering each a crushing blow upon the head. Knocking 10 or 12 enemy from the wall, his daring action so inspired his platoon that they repelled the attack and held their position. Pfc. Brown's extraordinary heroism, gallantry, and intrepidity reflect the highest credit upon himself and was in keeping with the honored traditions of the military service. Reportedly missing in action and officially killed in action, September 5, 1950.
Awarded Posthumously
Sergeant Libby, George D. Army
Medal of Honor
SERGEANT GEORGE D. LIBBY
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 3d Engineer Combat Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Taejon, Korea, 20 July 1950. Entered service at: Waterbury, Conn. Birth: Bridgton, Maine. G.O. No.: 62, 2 August 1951.
Citation: Sgt. Libby distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action. While breaking through an enemy encirclement, the vehicle in which he was riding approached an enemy roadblock and encountered devastating fire which disabled the truck, killing or wounding all the passengers except Sgt. Libby. Taking cover in a ditch Sgt. Libby engaged the enemy and despite the heavy fire crossed the road twice to administer aid to his wounded comrades. He then hailed a passing M-5 artillery tractor and helped the wounded aboard. The enemy directed intense small-arms fire at the driver, and Sgt. Libby, realizing that no one else could operate the vehicle, placed himself between the driver and the enemy thereby shielding him while he returned the fire. During this action he received several wounds in the arms and body. Continuing through the town the tractor made frequent stops and Sgt. Libby helped more wounded aboard. Refusing first aid, he continued to shield the driver and return the fire of the enemy when another roadblock was encountered. Sgt. Libby received additional wounds but held his position until he lost consciousness. Sgt. Libby's sustained, heroic actions enabled his comrades to reach friendly lines. His dauntless courage and gallant self-sacrifice reflect the highest credit upon himself and uphold the esteemed traditions of the U.S. Army.
Awarded Posthumously
Corporal Schoonover, Dan D. Army
Medal of Honor
CORPORAL DAN D. SCHOONOVER
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, Company A, 13th Engineer Combat Battalion, 7th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Sokkogae, Korea, 8 to 10 July 1953. Entered service at: Boise, Idaho. Born: 8 October 1933, Boise, Idaho. G.O. No.: 5, 14 January 1955.
Citation: Cpl. Schoonover, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and outstanding courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. He was in charge of an engineer demolition squad attached to an infantry company which was committed to dislodge the enemy from a vital hill. Realizing that the heavy fighting and intense enemy fire made it impossible to carry out his mission, he voluntarily employed his unit as a rifle squad and, forging up the steep barren slope, participated in the assault on hostile positions. When an artillery round exploded on the roof of an enemy bunker, he courageously ran forward and leaped into the position, killing 1 hostile infantryman and taking another prisoner. Later in the action, when friendly forces were pinned down by vicious fire from another enemy bunker, he dashed through the hail of fire, hurled grenades in the nearest aperture, then ran to the doorway and emptied his pistol, killing the remainder of the enemy. His brave action neutralized the position and enabled friendly troops to continue their advance to the crest of the hill. When the enemy counterattacked he constantly exposed himself to the heavy bombardment to direct the fire of his men and to call in an effective artillery barrage on hostile forces. Although the company was relieved early the following morning, he voluntarily remained in the area, manned a machine gun for several hours, and subsequently joined another assault on enemy emplacements. When last seen he was operating an automatic rifle with devastating effect until mortally wounded by artillery fire. Cpl. Schoonover's heroic leadership during 2 days of heavy fighting, superb personal bravery, and willing self-sacrifice inspired his comrades and saved many lives, reflecting lasting glory upon himself and upholding the honored traditions of the military service.
Awarded Posthumously
Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:
www.vfw.org/
www.army.mil/cmh-pg/
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On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on October 17:
1711 Jupiter Hammon 1st American black to publish poetry (Complete Works)
1817 Samuel Ringgold Ward Maryland, minister/abolitionist/author
1848 William "Candy" Cummings created the curve ball
1886 Spring Byington Colo Springs, actress (Lily Ruskin-December Bride)
1903 Irene Ryan El Paso Texas, actress (Granny-Beverly Hillbillies)
1903 Jerry Colonna Boston Mass, comedian (Bob Hope USO shows. Jerry Colonna Show)
1912 John Paul I 263rd Roman Catholic pope (1978)
1915 Arthur Miller playwright (Death of a Salesman, The Crucible)
1919 Rita Hayworth NY (Alzheimer victim), actress (Gilda, Pal Joey)
1920 Montgomery Clift actor (From Here to Eternity)
1921 Maria Gorokhovskaya USSR, gymnast (Olympic-gold-1952)
1921 Tom Poston Columbus Ohio, actor (Steve Allen Show, Newhart)
1926 Karl G Henize Cincinnati Ohio, astronaut (STS 51F)
1928 James "Junior" Gilliam Dodgers (NL rookie of year 1953)
1930 Jimmy Breslin Queens NYC, columnist (NY Post, News, Newsday)
1933 William A Anders Hong Kong, Maj Gen, USAF/astronaut (Apollo 8)
1934 Jeannine Decker and known as Soeur Sourire (The Singing Nun)
1938 Robert "Evel" Knievel motorcycle daredevil
1942 Gary Puckett vocalist (& the Union Gap-Woman Woman, Young Girl)
1946 Bob Seagren Pomona Calif, actor (Soap)/pole vaulter (Olympic-gold-68)
1947 Michael McKean NYC, actor (Lenny-Laverne & Shirley)
1948 George Wendt Chicago Ill, actor (NORM!-Cheers)
1948 Margot Kidder Yellowknife, actress (Lois Lane, Amityville Horror)
1956 Mae C Jemison Decatur Alabama, MD/astronaut (Sked:STS 47)
1959 Dolph Lundgren actor(?) (Rocky 4, Masters of the Universe)
Deaths which occurred on October 17:
0532 Boniface II, 1st "German" Pope, dies
1740 Anna Ivanova Romanova empress of Russia (1730-40), dies at 47
1806 Jean Jacques Dessalines Emperor of Haiti, dies
1887 Gustav Kirchoff discoverer of the laws of spectroscopy, dies
1910 Julia Ward Howe composer (Battle Hymn of the Republic), dies at 91
1944 Hans Krasa, Czech-Jewish composer, died at Auschwitz
1984 Alberta Hunter US blues singer/composer, dies at 89
1990 Ralph Abernathy civil rights leader, dies
1993 Frank J Del Giudice US industrial designer (Boeing 747), dies at 77
1994 Dmitri Cholodov Russian journalist, murdered at 27
Take A Moment To Remember
GWOT Casualties
Iraq
17-Oct-2003 1 | US: 1 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Specialist Michael L. Williams Baghdad Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Afghanistan
A GOOD DAY
http://icasualties.org/oif/ Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White
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Go here and I'll stop nagging.
http://soldiersangels.org/heroes/index.php
On this day...
0532 Boniface II ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1244 The Sixth Crusade ends when an Egyptian-Khwarismian force almost annihilates the Frankish army at Gaza
1415 Jewish autonomy in Palestine ends, as Raban Gamliel leaves office
1483 The Reverend Tomas de Torquemada, OP, appointed inquisitor-general of Spain
1492 Columbus sights isle of San Salvador (Watling Island, Bahamas)
1691 New royal charter for Massachusetts, now including Maine, Plymouth
1777 British General John Burgoyne surrenderes over 5,000 British and Hessian troops to American troops in Saratoga, N.Y., a turning point of the Revolutionary War.
1781 Cornwallis defeated at Yorktown
1787 Boston blacks, petition legislature for equal school facilities
1806 Napoleon Bonaparte arrives at the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, where he has been banished by the Allies.
1808 Political rights of Jews suspended in Duchy of Warsaw
1829 Delaware River & Chesapeake Bay Canal formally opened
1835 The first resolution formally creating the Texas Rangers is approved
1850 Knickerbocker Engine Co Number 5 organized
1855 Bessemer steelmaking process patented
1860 1st pro golf tournament held (Scotland) (Willie Park wins)
1862 Battle of Leetown & Thoroughfare Gap, VA
1868 Constitution of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg comes into effect
1871 President Grant suspends writ of habeas corpus
1894 Ohio national guard kills 3 lynchers while rescuing a black man
1904 Bank of Italy (Bank of America) opens its doors
1906 Wilhelm Voigt, a 57-year-old German shoemaker, impersonates an army officer and leads an entire squad of soldiers to help him steal 4,000 marks.
1918 Yugoslavia proclaims itself a republic
1919 Radio Corporation of America (RCA) created
1920 Chicago Bears (as Decatur Staleys) play 1st NFL game, win 7-0
1931 Al Capone convicted of tax evasion, sentenced to 11 years in prison
1933 Albert Einstein arrives in the US, a refugee from Nazi Germany
1934 "The Aldrich Family" premieres on radio
1941 1st US destroyer (Kearney) torpedoed off Iceland
1941 Genl. Hideki Toho (1885-1948) became Premier and Minister of War in Japan.
1943 British Liberators sank U-540 and U-631
1945 Juan Per¢n becomes dictator of Argentina
1956 England's 1st large scale nuclear power station opens
1957 French author Albert Camus awarded Nobel Prize in Literature
1959 Queen Elizabeth is fined $140 for withdrawing her race horse
1961 NASA civilian pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 33,100 m
1961 Battle of Paris -- police kill 210 Algerians who were protesting against police oppression and the curfew imposed against their community in Paris.
1961 NY Museum of Modern Art hung Henri Matisse's "Le Bateau" upside-down, It wasn't corrected until December 3rd
1964 Yanks fire Manager Yogi Berra
1967 Memorial service for Brian Epstein at New London Synagogue
1967 Pete Knight in X-15 reaches 85 km
1967 The play "Hair" is 1st performed
1969 Soyuz 7 returns to Earth
1973 5-mo oil embargo by Arab states against US & Netherlands begins
1974 NBA New Orleans Jazz begin a 28 game road losing streak
1974 Oakland A's beat LA Dodgers, 4 games to 1 in 71st World Series, makes A's the only team other than Yanks to win 3 straight series
1975 UN passes resolution saying "Zionism is a form of racism"
1975 1st Space Shuttle main engine test at Natl Space Tech Labs, Miss
1977 Canada begins regular live TV coverage of Parliament
1977 West German commandos storm hijacked Lufthansa in Mogadishu, Somalia freeing all 86 hostages & killing 3 of the 4 hijackers
1978 NY Yankees beat Dodgers, 4 games to 2 in 75th World Series
1978 Pres Carter signs bill restoring Jefferson Davis citizenship
1978 Yanks win 22nd World Championship capping their great comeback year
1979 D Bautista of Mexico completes 20,000 m walk in record 1:20:06.8
1979 Mother Teresa of India, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
1979 Pitts Pirates beat Balt Orioles, 4 games to 3 in 76th World Series
1986 US Senate approved immigration bill prohibiting hiring of illegal aliens & offered amnesty to illegals who entered prior to 1982
1987 1st lady Nancy Reagan undergoes a modified radical mastectomy
1987 1st World Series game in a covered stadium (Minnesota Metrodome) (World Series #84)
1988 Lyndon LaRouche pleads innocent to fraud, conspiracy indictment(It's all a plot)
1988 Phillip Morris announces $11 Billion tender offer for Kraft
1988 Rockin Robin beats "Sensational" Sherri Martel for WWF women's title
1988 Traveling Wilbury's 1st release "Handle With Care"
1989 Earthquake in SF (6.9) cancels 3rd game of 86th World Series - kills 67
1994 Israel and Jordan initial a draft peace treaty.
2001 Researchers at Lucents Bell Labs reported the development of a tiny new transistor made of a simple cluster of organic molecules
2003 A new family of frogs is discovered in western India. The purple, burrowing frog family, named Nasikabatrachus sahydrensis, appeared to date back some 200 million years
2004 Jordan's military prosecutor indict Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Haiti : Dessalines Day (1806)
Malawi : Mother's Day
Gourmet Coffee Week (Day 3)
National Shampoo Week (Day 2)
Co-op Awareness Month.
Getting the World to Beat a Path to Your Door Week (Day 2)
National Wear Something Gaudy Day
National Applejack Month!!
National Sarcastics' Awareness Month
Religious Observances
Anglican : St Ethelred's Day
RC : St Hedwig
Ang, RC, Luth : Memorial of Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, martyr
Old Catholic : Feast of St Margaret Mary Alacoque (now 10/16)
Religious History
1483 Pope Sixtus IV launched the Spanish Inquisition, placing it under joint direction of the Church and state. Tomas de Torquemada, 63, was appointed Grand Inquisitor in charge of removing Jews and Muslims from Spain.
1582 Birth of German scholar Johann Gerhard, most influential of the 17th century Lutheran theologians. His writings attained a European circulation second only to the Bible and Thomas a Kempis' "Imitation of Christ."
1651 French scientist Blaise Pascal wrote in a letter: 'Jesus Christ suffered and died to sanctify death and suffering; he has been all that was great, and all that was abject, in order to sanctify in himself all things except sin, and to be the model of every condition.'
1792 Birth of John Bowring, English statesman, linguist, merchant, theologian and author of the hymn, "In the Cross of Christ I Glory."
1812 In Washington Co., PA, the first of seven eventual conferences convened, leading ultimately to the founding in 1836 of the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States.
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Bulgarian is Europe's top Chessboxer
A Bulgarian has become the first ever European Heavyweight Chessboxing Champion.
Tihomir 'Tiger' Titschko walked off with the title at the Chessboxing Championships in Germany.
The WCBO (World Chess Boxing Organisation) organised the event where so-called chessboxers went through interchanging four-minute-rounds of chess and two-minute boxing rounds.
According to the rules, in a maximum of eleven rounds, a K.O. or checkmate can lead to an early victory.
Titschko, 26, weighing 14 stone, won the title after beating German champion Andreas 'Doomsday' Schneider with a check-mate following a dragon-variation of the Sizilian opening in the ninth round.
A spokesperson for the World Chess Boxing Organisation said: "The basic idea in chessboxing is to combine the no.1 thinking sport and the no.1 fighting sport into a hybrid that demands the most of its competitors - both mentally and physically."
Thought for the day :
"Everybody likes a kidder, but nobody lends him money."
Arthur Miller