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\nCapt, USMC \u2014 Korean War<\/strong><\/p>\n William Earl Barber was born on November 30, 1919, in Dehart, Kentucky, and grew up on a family farm. After graduating from Morgan County High School and two years at Morehead State, he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1940. In World War II he fought on Iwo Jima, where he was shot while rescuing two Marines after taking over for his wounded commander \u2014 an act that earned him the Silver Star and a Purple Heart.<\/p>\n By the Korean War he was a captain commanding Company F, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines. In late November 1950 his company of about 220 men was ordered to hold a three-mile mountain pass at Toktong \u2014 the only escape route for thousands of Marines fighting around the Chosin Reservoir.<\/p>\n From November 28 to December 2, 1950, in subzero cold, Barber’s outnumbered company withstood repeated assaults by more than 1,400 Chinese troops. Wounded in the leg, he refused evacuation. When ordered by radio to fight his way back to friendly lines, he asked permission to stand fast instead: abandoning the pass would have trapped 8,000 Marines at Yudam-ni and cut them off from the drive to the sea. His men held, killing over a thousand of the enemy. When relief finally arrived, only 82 of his Marines could still walk away \u2014 but the pass, and the division’s lifeline, had held.<\/p>\n On August 20, 1952, President Harry S. Truman presented him the Medal of Honor in the White House Rose Garden. Barber went on to serve in Vietnam as a psychological operations officer and retired as a colonel in 1970. He died on April 19, 2002, at his home in Irvine, California, and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. He is remembered among the “Chosin Few,” honored by a battle monument at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n Sources: Wikipedia<\/a> \u00b7 Congressional Medal of Honor Society<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n