Eleven
Immortal
Tar Heels
Tlit'ir nt'liicvfiiicnls in
five
магк
won IIhmii I lit*
rovrlH C'ougrtvssitMinl
Modal of Honor.
K;/ JOIIVW (OIIDV
When il conic» lo heroic qualities,
ihc Tar Heel Is hard lo excel. Probably
ihe best proof of this arc the valorous
deeds performed by North Carolina's
1 1 «sinners of America’s highest a «sard
for heroism — ihc Medal of Honor.
The 1 1 men come from all sections
of the stale, from Cherokee to Wil¬
mington. They represent a cross-
section of all vsalks of life, from an
Indian lo a banker's son.
They fought in battles of 5 wars,
from the late 19th Century Indian
scraps to the recent Korean conflict.
So valorous and glorious have been
the men's exploits, many may find it
difficult to understand how humans
can be as brave and self-sacrificing.
liut they «sere. Here's how:
William II. Jones, of near Lexing¬
ton. fought Indians in the western
battles of I
«77.
A farrier (veterinar¬
ian ) with the 2nd U. S. Cavalry. Jones
distinguished himself by gallantry in
action at Little Muddy Creek. Mont.,
and Cantas Meadows. Idaho. He was
the first Tar Heel to get the medal.
CpI. Seth L. Weld, of Altamont.
with his right arm cut open by a N>lo.
rescued an officer and a fellow soldier
in Leyte during the Philippine Insur¬
rection of 1906 by clubbing armed
assailants with his disabled rifle.
Second IX SumiH I. Parker, of
Monroe, commanded a battalion of
infantrymen by crawling about on his
hands and knees after being wounded
in a fierce battle in France during
World War I. Previously Parker had
led a force through murderous rifle
and machine-gun fire to the crest of a
hill and captured six machine guns and
40 prisoners.
Pvf. Robert I- Blackwell, of
Hurdle Mills, volunteered to carry a
message calling for reinforcements
when his platoon was surrounded by
Germans near St. Souplct, France, in
World War I. While attempting to get
through enemy fire, the Person County
soldier was killed.
Sgf. Ray F. K.uhanks, of Snow Hill
and La Grange, was wounded and an
enemy bullet knocked out his rifle after
leading an attack within 1 5 yards of a
Japanese position in Dutch New
Guinea in 1944. Despite serious pain
F.ubanks charged again, and. using his
broken weapon a* a club, killed four
Japs before he was shot himself, lot a
second time and killed.
CpI. Henry F. Warner, an anti-tank
gunner from Troy, disregarded large
numbers of a German force during the
1944 Battle of the Bulge in Belgium
and single-handedly knocked out
three Axis tanks and put another to
flight.
Warner shot it out in a pistol duel
with a German tank commander,
standing in the turret of another tank.
Warner killed the tanker, but was
killed himself in a final blast of
machine-gun fire from a lank he had
previously disabled.
First 1.1. Charles Murray. <*f Wil¬
mington. although suffering from eight
wounds and bleeding profusely, at¬
tacked single-handedly a force of 200
Germans with an automatic rifle dur¬
ing World War II. Before dropping of
exhaustion he had killed 20 and
wounded many others.
Jack Lucas, a native of Plymouth
but now living in Winston-Salem, fell
on a live Japanese hand grenade in
the battle of lwo Jima to save the
lives of fellow Marines. He is the
youngest man ever to be awarded Ihc
C.M.H. He was 17 at the time.
Two natives of the Forest City area,
Pfc. Bryant II. Womack and Jerry K.
Crump, won the medal during the
Korean conflict.
Womack plowed through enemy fire
to administer medical assistance to
wounded men. While bandaging a
soldier, a mortar shell exploded near
him. blowing off his right arm below
ihe elbow.
The teen-age Womack refused to
withdraw until every wounded man
was evacuated. But before he could
be brought to safety, the Tar Heel
collapsed from loss of blood and died.
CpI. Jerry Crump ««ent to Korea to
avenge the lots of an eye and part of
a face which his brother. Harry’, had
suffered from the Chinese in the
Chosin Reservoir battle 10 months
previously.
The Rutherford County soldier got
decisive revenge While manning an
outpost, he alone slew 38 Reds in a 3*
hour raging battle. When a grenade
was lobbed in his trench, the youth
fell upon it bodily, saving the lives of
every man in the emplacement.
Although Crump's side was ripped
open from hip to shoulder, he de¬
manded that every man be evacuated
before allowing medics to help him.
I'.F’.C. Charles George, an Indian.
( Continued on page 40)
THE STATE. Januadv I, 1955