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\nCpl, USMC \u2014 Korean War<\/strong><\/p>\n Charles Gene Abrell was born on August 12, 1931, in Terre Haute, Indiana, and attended public schools in Las Vegas, Nevada. On August 17, 1948, at seventeen, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He served with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division \u2014 seeing action at Inchon, in the recapture of Seoul, and at the Chosin Reservoir.<\/p>\n On June 10, 1951, near Hangnyong in the Hwacheon region, his platoon was assaulting fortified enemy hill positions when it was pinned down by intense, accurate automatic-weapons fire from a hostile bunker on commanding ground. Already wounded by enemy grenade fragments, Corporal Abrell \u2014 a fire team leader \u2014 voluntarily rushed forward alone through the pinned-down squad, urging his comrades to follow.<\/p>\n He was hit twice more as he stormed toward the emplacement. Then, in full view of his platoon, he pulled the pin from a grenade clutched in his hand and hurled himself bodily into the bunker with the live grenade still in his grasp. The explosion killed the entire enemy gun crew \u2014 and Abrell with it. His self-sacrifice broke the strongpoint and let his platoon take its objective.<\/p>\n He was nineteen years old. The Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously for what his citation called “valiant spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of certain death.” He was buried at Westlawn Cemetery in Farmersburg, Indiana \u2014 a teenager who gave everything so the Marines beside him could advance.<\/p>\n Sources: Wikipedia<\/a> \u00b7 Congressional Medal of Honor Society<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n