Korean War Soldiers Receive ‘Hall of Heroes’ Induction

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2011 — The nation’s two most recent Medal of Hon­or recip­i­ents were added to the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes ros­ter today in what Deputy Defense Sec­re­tary William J. Lynn III said is a trib­ute to their endur­ing val­or.
The Hall of Heroes induc­tion fol­lowed yesterday’s White House cer­e­mo­ny in which Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma pre­sent­ed the nation’s high­est mil­i­tary hon­or posthu­mous­ly to Antho­ny T. Kaho’o­hanohano and Hen­ry Svehla, both Army pri­vates 1st class when they were killed in action in the Kore­an War.

Kaho’o­hanohano was hon­ored for his actions of Sept. 1, 1951 when he led a machine-gun squadron with the 7th Infantry Division’s 17th Infantry Reg­i­ment, Com­pa­ny H. 

“Kaho’o­hanohano will always be remem­bered for the lone assault that saved his com­rades, and then inspired their counter attack,” Lynn told the gath­er­ing of fam­i­lies, friends and dig­ni­taries. “His last words — report­ed­ly, ‘I’ve got your back,’ — are a creed our sol­diers car­ry with them today when­ev­er they go in harm’s way.” 

Svehla’s medal was for his actions of June 12, 1952 when he served in Korea as a rifle­man with the 7th Infantry Division’s 32d Infantry Reg­i­ment, Com­pa­ny F. 

“Svehla, sim­i­lar­ly, put the secu­ri­ty of his fel­low troops above his own life,” Lynn said. “His coura­geous counter attack after being fired upon dur­ing a recon­nais­sance mis­sion saved his unit from defeat. And throw­ing him­self on a grenade, he gave the last full mea­sure of his devo­tion to his men, and to the coun­try he swore to defend.” 

With their names now inscribed on a wall, the lega­cies of Kaho’o­hanohano and Svehla are enshrined in the Hall of Heroes, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mar­tin E. Dempsey said. 

“The courage, resilience and tenac­i­ty of Antho­ny and Hen­ry and those they fought along­side and pro­tect­ed every day in one of our more dif­fi­cult wars, con­tributed immea­sur­ably to our unmatched lega­cy as an army, as a force that stands against tyran­ny, pro­tects the weak, and cham­pi­ons free­dom,” Dempsey said. Army Under­sec­re­tary Joseph West­phal said the sol­diers’ actions con­tin­ue to make con­tri­bu­tions today. 

“The actions of Kaho’o­hanohano and Svehla,” he said, “are a time­less inspi­ra­tion for sol­diers who are, once again, fight­ing America’s ene­mies in far­away places, and under very chal­leng­ing conditions.” 

Dempsey pre­sent­ed Hall of Heroes induc­tion plaques to fam­i­ly mem­bers Eugene Kaho’o­hanohano and Sylvia Svehla at the end of the induc­tion ceremony. 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs) 

Face­book and/or on Twit­ter

Team GlobDef

Seit 2001 ist GlobalDefence.net im Internet unterwegs, um mit eigenen Analysen, interessanten Kooperationen und umfassenden Informationen für einen spannenden Überblick der Weltlage zu sorgen. GlobalDefence.net war dabei die erste deutschsprachige Internetseite, die mit dem Schwerpunkt Sicherheitspolitik außerhalb von Hochschulen oder Instituten aufgetreten ist.

Alle Beiträge ansehen von Team GlobDef →