Medal of Honor: Robert D. Reem – Korean War – November 6, 1950

Name: Robert Dale Reem
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Organization: U.S. Marine Corps
Unit: Company H, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Reinforced)
Place and Date: Vicinity of Chinhung-ni, Korea – 6 November 1950
Entered Service At: Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania
Born: October 20, 1925 – Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Departed: Killed in Action, November 6, 1950
Accredited to: Pennsylvania

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Summary of Action

In the bitter cold near Chinhung-ni, Korea, Second Lieutenant Robert D. Reem led his platoon in a desperate assault against heavily fortified enemy positions overlooking their advance. Each time his men climbed the ridge, they were driven back by withering machine gun, rifle, and grenade fire.

Three times he regrouped and led them forward. Preparing for a fourth assault, Reem gathered his noncommissioned officers in a shallow depression to issue last-minute orders. Suddenly, a grenade landed among them. Without hesitation, he threw himself onto it — absorbing the full blast and saving the lives of his fellow Marines.

Reem’s final act of valor allowed his platoon to continue the fight and seize the ridge. His unflinching courage and willingness to lay down his life for his men became a lasting testament to Marine Corps devotion and brotherhood.

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Medal of Honor Citation

Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps, Company H, 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.).
Place and date: Vicinity Chinhung-ni, Korea, 6 November 1950.
Entered service at: Elizabethtown, Pa.
Born: 20 October 1925, Lancaster, Pa.

Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a platoon commander in Company H, in action against enemy aggressor forces. Grimly determined to dislodge a group of heavy enemy infantry units occupying well-concealed and strongly fortified positions on commanding ground overlooking unprotected terrain, 2d Lt. Reem moved slowly forward up the side of the ridge with his platoon in the face of a veritable hail of shattering hostile machine gun, grenade, and rifle fire. Three times repulsed by a resolute enemy force in achieving his objective, and pinned down by the continuing fury of hostile fire, he rallied and regrouped the heroic men in his depleted and disorganized platoon in preparation for a fourth attack. Issuing last-minute orders to his noncommissioned officers when an enemy grenade landed in a depression of the rocky ground in which the group was standing, 2d Lt. Reem unhesitatingly chose to sacrifice himself and, springing upon the deadly missile, absorbed the full impact of the explosion in his body, thus protecting others from serious injury and possible death. Stouthearted and indomitable, he readily yielded his own chance of survival that his subordinate leaders might live to carry on the fight against a fanatic enemy. His superb courage, cool decisiveness, and valiant spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of certain death reflect the highest credit upon 2d Lt. Reem and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.