Cpl, U.S. Army — Korean War
Mitchell Red Cloud Jr. was born on July 2, 1925, in Hatfield, Wisconsin, a member of the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Nation. With his father’s permission he left high school to enlist in the Marine Corps in 1941, fought with the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion on Guadalcanal, refused a medical discharge after tropical diseases cost him some 75 pounds, and fought again with the 6th Marine Division on Okinawa, where he was wounded. He left the Marines as a sergeant in 1946.
In 1948 Red Cloud returned to service, this time enlisting in the U.S. Army. He went to Korea with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division — among the first American units committed to the war, fighting through Taejon and the Pusan Perimeter before advancing into North Korea in the fall of 1950.
On the night of November 5, 1950, Red Cloud manned a listening post on the point of Hill 123 near Chonghyon, ahead of his company’s line. He spotted a Chinese force creeping up for a surprise attack and gave the first alarm, then stood and poured Browning Automatic Rifle fire into the attackers as they rushed him from close range. Shot repeatedly — eight times in all — he refused aid, pulled himself upright, wrapped one arm around a small tree to hold himself up, and kept firing until he was killed. His stand broke up the attack, saved his company from being overrun, and bought time to reorganize and evacuate the wounded.
Red Cloud was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, presented to his mother in April 1951. Camp Red Cloud in Uijeongbu, South Korea, longtime headquarters of the 2nd Infantry Division, was named in his honor.
Sources: Wikipedia · Congressional Medal of Honor Society