Col Charles P. Murray Jr., U.S. Army (Ret.)
On Dec. 16, 1944, IstLt. Charles P. Murray Jr., while
commanding Company C, 30th Infantry near Kaysersberg,
France, descended into a valley and encountered a force of
200 Germans pouring deadly fire into an American battalion. Murray moved ahead of his unit to call in support, but
his radio was dead so he began launching rifle-fired grenades
at the enemy. From his exposed position, he also used an
automatic rifle to kill 20 enemy soldiers, wound many others
and disable a truck carrying three German mortars. He then
led his small patrol toward their original objective—securing a bridge. That action led to the capture of 10 German
soldiers, but Murray suffered eight wounds from a grenade
attack in the process. Though bleeding profusely, he refused
to return to the rear and seek medical treatment until the
deployment was completed.
SEASONED COMBAT VETERAN Charles P. Murray was still
fighting his way across Europe when he learned secondhand that he was to receive the Medal of Honor. His wife
sent him the news in a hometown newspaper clipping.
The presentation was made by Gen. Geoffrey Keyes on
July 5,1945, at the Salzburg airport, and the ceremony
included all 15,000 men of the 3rd Infantry Division passing the reviewing stand.
That kind of reception would make it hard to leave
the Army, and Murray made it a career. Before retiring as
a colonel in 1973, he went on to see combat again as an
infantry brigade commander in Vietnam, where both his
sons also served.
"I don't really see myself as a hero," Murray said. "As for
the medal, I was just recognized for something that
others thought was very
extraordinary. Most of the
recipients are like me. We
wear the medal ourselves,
but we really wear them
for others, for the men who
were killed in our unit, in
our company, for the men
who might have received this medal if there were proper
witnesses or someone had recommended them."
Murray now lives in Columbia where he frequently
visits schools and meets with troops at Fort Jackson, often
at the invitation of command officers. He said he always
comes away impressed with
the soldiers and officers in
today's military.
"They're still first-class
people and nowadays they're
more educated than we were,
with high school and college
and great training programs
while they're in the Army,"
Murray said. "But they're also every bit as committed as
we were, and it gives me confidence in the people we have
serving today, knowing that something like this is as meaningful today as it was back in my day."
"I dorit really see myself as a
hero. I was just recognized for
something that others thought
was very extraordinary."
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Master Sgt. John F. Baker Jr., U.S. Army (Ret.)
On Nov. 5, 1966, Pfc. John F. Baker, Jr., was with Company
A, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry in Toy Ninh Province of
Vietnam near the Cambodian border. He had seen several
small actions during his tour but nothing like the battle that
occurred when his company was ordered to assist another
unit pinned down by the Viet Cong. When enemy fire
instantly killed his company's lead man, Baker moved to the
head of the column and, with another soldier, knocked out
two enemy bunkers. When the other soldier was mortally
wounded, Baker had to dispatch four Viet Cong snipers
before he could evacuate the fallen man. He returned to
the front to lead repeated assaults against enemy positions.
Moving to attack two more enemy bunkers, he and another
soldier drew intense fire and Baker was blown off his feet by
an enemy grenade. He quickly recovered and single-handedly
destroyed one bunker before the other soldier was wounded.
Baker seized the machine gun of his fallen comrade and
silenced the second bunker. He evacuated the wounded
soldier, replenished his ammunition and returned to continue
the fight. Before the two-hour engagement was over, Baker
evacuated a total of eight soldiers, and at one point raced
ahead of friendly troops to kill enemy snipers.
JOHN BAKER is ONE GOOD MAN the Marines missed.
Baker tried to enlist in the Corps, but was rejected
because he was too short. So, the 5-foot-2 high school gymnast from Moline, 111., joined the Army instead. He used his
athletic ability to fearlessly root out dug-in enemy positions
as a "tunnel rat" and, on one particular day, saved the lives
of several fellow soldiers in a fight so savage that it earned
him the nation's highest military tribute. Recommended by
fellow enlisted men he fought alongside that day, he was
awarded the Medal of Honor on May 1,1968, by President
Lyndon Johnson.
After the war, Baker remained in the Army, retired
after 24 years as a master sergeant and then completed
his working life as a computer analyst at the Veterans
Administration hospital in Columbia. He now calls the
capital city home and stays active talking to young people
about his experiences—"The kids love hearing my stories about being a tunnel rat in Vietnam"—and about the
importance of patriotism and honor and commitment.
"It's important that young people learn that there's more
than basketball, football, stuff like that," he said. "Sports
heroes are fine, but war heroes, well, they're important, too.
The kids don't mind hearing that."
Baker doesn't mind sharing. "Receiving the medal means
Deceiving
me medal
means a <jgreat
deal to me. It
.
reminds me of
the friendships
I had with the
men and women
I served with"
a great deal to me. It reminds me of the friendships I had
with the men and women I served with. I loved serving in
the military."
Ever the tough guy, Baker recently attended a service in
his honor back home in the Quad Cities—just days after
open heart surgery. The festivities included the naming of
an interstate bridge over the Mississippi River in his honor.
He also regularly receives letters from autograph collectors, asking for signed photographs. "That makes me feel
proud," Baker said. "This is a great country."
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17
U
I was doing what I was trained to
do, and that includes keeping the
faith in the guy there next to you"
lieutenant to the water's edge. There he towed his senior
officer and another wounded man seaward for approximately
two hours before they were rescued.
Lt. Michael E. Thornton, U.S. Navy SEAL (Ret.)
On Oct. 31, 1972, Petty Officer Michael E. Thornton, a U.S.
Navy SEAL, risked his life to save his superior officer while
engaged in a daring operation to gather intelligence at the
Cua Viet River Base. Serving as advisors to the Vietnamese
Navy, Thornton and his lieutenant joined a river patrol that
strayed into North Vietnam. They had barely reached land
when they were engaged in a five-hour firefight. Though
wounded in the back, Thornton inflicted numerous casualties
on the enemy before his team returned to the water to avoid
being surrounded. Upon learning that his lieutenant was
believed to be dead, Thornton charged 500 yards through
heavy fire and found his fellow SEAL suffering from a severe
head wound, but still alive. He quickly dispatched two enemy
soldiers standing over the wounded man, and removed his
AFTER VIETNAM, Greenville native Michael Thornton continued his service to the nation. His 25-year career included
several tours of Southeast Asia, the training of future
SEALs and British allies and the preparation of rapid
deployment teams for the first Gulf War. Before he retired
as a lieutenant in 1992, Thornton was the Navy's only
recipient of the Medal of Honor still serving on active duty.
Thornton has seen and learned a lot since that day he
received his medal on Oct. 15,1973, from President Richard
Nixon. And he has a lot to share, leading to his current
career as a motivational speaker.
"This medal we all wear so proudly belongs to every
man and woman who has ever served, most of all to those
who made the ultimate sacrifice, who never got to raise
their children or see their grandchildren," he says. "Many
of them deserved this as much as me. I'm just kind of a
custodian of this tradition, and I'll never understand why
I survived while so many others didn't."
Like the other South Carolina recipients, Thornton is
notable for his humility about the medal. Don't tell him he
"won" it. "You're a recipient You were put in for it by your
peers. It's not like you went out and won a ballgame or something," he explains. "I don't think I deserved mine and will
never think that. I was doing what I was trained to do, and
that includes keeping the faith in the guy there next to you."
Beyond Valor: 2010 Medal of Honor Convention
About two-thirds of the 87 living recipients of America's highest military honor
will convene in Charleston from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3 for the Congressional Medal of
Honor Society's annual convention.
The five-day event's centerpiece is the awards dinner at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday,
Oct. 2, in the Embassy Suites. Featured speakers include former Gov. James Edwards,
actor Stephen Lang (Gods and Generals and Avatar) and Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan. The convention also includes private dinners, receptions, golf
and fishing outings and school visits, and organizers are confident of a large turnout.
"That's been the case each year, and we expect South Carolina, a particularly
16
patriotic state, and Charleston, a uniquely historic town of great military heritage, to
be no exception," said Brig. Gen. Eugene F. Rogers of the S.C. Military Department, a
former Marine and founder of the Rogers, Townsend & Thomas Law Firm.
"To honor these men in this fashion is a privilege and a great source of pleasure,"
Rogers said. "And the entire organizing committee—everyone involved from across
the state—are also particularly delighted to highlight the five living recipients we
can claim here as our own in South Carolina."
For more information on ticket prices and how you can participate, visit
medalofhonorconvention.com or call JMC Charleston at (843) 577-1100.
SOUTH CAROLINA LIVING | SEPTEMBER 2010 I SCLIVING.COOP
Maj. Gen. James E. Livingston,
U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.)
On May 2, 1968, the men of Company E, 2nd Battalion,
4th Marines, under the command of Capt. James E.
Livingston, launched an assault on a Vietnamese village in
Quang Tri Province. Enemy forces had seized it the night
before and isolated another Marine company from the
battalion. Skillfully employing screening agents, Livingston
maneuvered his men 500 meters across an open rice paddy
while under intense enemy fire. Although he was twice
wounded by grenade fragments, he refused medical treatment until his men had destroyed more than 100 bunkers
and driven the enemy from their positions, relieving the
pressure on the stranded Marine company. When an
enemy battalion began a counter attack, Livingston boldly
maneuvered the remaining effective men of his company
forward and joined forces with another unit of Marines.
Wounded a third time and unable to walk, he steadfastly
remained in a dangerously exposed area, deploying his men
to more tenable positions and supervising the evacuation of
casualties. Only when assured of the safety of his men did
he allow himself to be evacuated.
Reserves. He became a brigadier general in 1988 and was
promoted to major general in 1991.
Livingston has seen a lot of change in the armed forces
and in the nation's mindset toward their military. "It's a
real contrast to what was the attitude 30 years ago," he
says. "There's a much more positive attitude. It's our most
respected institution in the country."
Now a Mount Pleasant resident, Livingston travels
extensively as a consultant for defense and non-defense
companies and to promote his recently published biography, Noble Warrior: The Life and Times of Maj. Gen. James
E. Livingston, USMC (Ret.), Medal of Honor. But he still
takes the time to meet with troops and schoolchildren. On
each visit, he carries the same message about the Medal of
Honor: "It represents service and sacrifice, and as recipients, each of us is just one of the people who represent the
greater commitment of all veterans in all wars," Livingston
said. "There are many, many more who have not been
recognized, for a variety of reasons ... including that they
did not survive the fight." €«
•*• * -tr T»r *
For more information
AFTER RECEIVING THE NATION'S highest honor from
President Richard Nixon on May 14,1970, James
Livingston went on to a remarkable 34-year military
career. His third tour of Vietnam, included a senior
command role in the final evacuation of Saigon. He commanded the Marine Barracks in London, held top training
command roles at Parris Island and developed the Desert
Warfare Training Program at 29 Palms in California
during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He also
commanded the 6th Marines and later the Marine Forces
* For more information on the commendation, visit the website of the
Congressional Medal of Honor Society at cmohs.org.
For details on the Medal of Honor Museum at Patriots Point in
Mt, Pleasant, visit patriotspoint.org/exhibits/medaljionor.
In 2004, The South Carolina State Guard Foundation published The
Medal of Honor. A Commemoration of South Carolina Recipients,
profiling all 37 South Carolinians, living and deceased, who earned the
Medal of Honor. For more information, visit sg.sc.gov.
* View the national exhibition of portraits of Medal of Honor recipients
at themedal.com.
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SEPTEMBER 2010 I SOUTH CAROLINA LIVING
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"I was the head of a platoon of
32 Marines, and they're the ones
who earned it."
Capt. John J. McGinty III, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.)
On July 18, 1966, a platoon with Company K, 3rd Battalion,
4th Marines under the command of Staff Sgt. John James
McGinty III helicoptered into a "hot" area along the
Demilitarized Zone between North Vietnam and South
Vietnam. Their mission was to protect the withdrawal of
a Marine battalion from a position which had been under
attack for three days. McGinty's unit soon came under heavy
small arms, automatic weapons and mortar fire from an
enemy regiment. When two of his squads became separated,
McGinty charged through intense automatic weapons and
mortar fire to find 20 of his men wounded and the medical
corpsman killed. He reloaded ammunition magazines and
weapons, led the care of his men, and despite serious wounds
to his legs and left eye, directed fire to prevent his men from
being overrun. During one attack, he killed five enemy at
point-blank range with his pistol and skillfully adjusted artillery and air strikes to within 50 yards of his own position
leading to a rout of a far larger enemy force.
JOHN JAMES McGiNTY III had returned from Vietnam,
received a commission as a second lieutenant, and was
serving as a drill instructor at Parris Island when he
learned that he was to receive the Medal of Honor from
President Lyndon Johnson. Later promoted to the rank of
captain, McGinty retired after 35 years with the Marines,
but he remains active with the military by visiting
troops deployed overseas and has completed five trips to
Afghanistan and Iraq.
"It can be pretty tiring but it's interesting, especially
when we get to go to places where the press usually doesn't
get to go," he says. 'And I'm very impressed with the men
and women serving now. It's tough, but they're doing a
great job. I've got to really hand it to the National Guard
and all those units that go over there again and again."
McGinty now lives in Southern California but plans
to be in South Carolina again for the Medal of Honor
Convention in Charleston. "I always look forward to those,"
he said. "We get a huge turnout wherever we go."
Like his fellow recipients, McGinty gives credit for his
honor to the men next to him. "I was the head of a platoon
of 32 Marines, and they're the ones who earned it."
WEB EXCLUSIVE Learn more about the Medal of Honor and
see the complete list of 37 South Carolinians who have received
it. Plus: Read the full medal citations for the five living recipients
profiled in this article at SCLiving.coop.
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SOUTH CAROLINA LIVING I SEPTEMBER 2010 I SCLIVING.COOP