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Millett, Lewis, COL.
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Contact Info
Home Town Mechanic Falls
Last Address Mechanic Falls
Date of Passing Nov 14, 2009
Location of Interment Riverside National Cemetery (VA) - Riverside, California
Captain, U.S. Army
Company Commander - Company E, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Division
Place and date: Vicinity of Hill 180, Soam-Ni, Korea, 7 February 1951.
Korean War Medal of Honor Recipient. He was decorated for an uphill bayonet charge into a fortified position. Raised in Maine, he joined the National Guard at 17 and served until 1940, when he left (technically, deserted) to join the Royal Canadian Army Air Corps due to his belief that the United States would not enter WWII. Millett saw combat as a gunner in North Africa, then, upon returning to the US Army in 1942, rose to sergeant, won the Silver and Bronze Stars, and received a battlefield commission the same day he was notified that his old records had caught up with him; court-martialed in absentia for desertion, he had been fined $52. Millett continued his service, then, after the war, returned to the Maine National Guard. He graduated from Bates College in 1949, then was re-activated for the Korean War. On February 7, 1951, then-Captain Millett was in command of E Company, 2nd. Battalion, 27th. Infantry at Soam-ni, Korea, participating in "Operation Punch". Observing a large number of Chinese fortified atop a hill, Millett lead a completely exposed bayonet-and-grenade charge into the stronghold. Though wounded, he continued his command until his men captured the position. For this action, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by Harry Truman on July 5, 1951, at the White House. In 1956, he graduated from Ranger School, and was assigned to the 101st. Airborne "Screaming Eagles". While at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, Millett established Division Recondo, an alternative Ranger training course (as opposed to the better-known one at Ft. Benning) that has been activated and de-activated several times over the years. In Viet Nam, he performed a variety of special operations duties, then retired in 1973. In his later years, he was active in veterans organizations, and a frequent guest at military functions. He died after a brief illness. The Colonel's awards include the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, three Legions of Merit, the Bronze Star, and four Purple Hearts. He is the only man in Army history to achieve the rank of Colonel after a conviction for desertion.
Other Comments:
Three days before the Medal of Honor action, he led a bayonet assault against another hill. The enemy ran away before we got into their holes. They took the hill, though they had casualties. One of his lieutenants, Don Wilson, was shot through the chest and he went out under fire with a litter to evacuate him. For this action Col. Millett was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
Medal of Honor recipient Lewis Millett dies at age 88
Saturday, November 14, 2009
By GENE GHIOTTO
The Press-Enterprise
Medal of Honor recipient Lewis Millett of Idyllwild died Saturday morning at Jerry L. Pettis Memorial VA Medical Center in Loma Linda. He was 88.
"He had a brief hospitalization. He came in the day before Veterans Day," said hospital spokeswoman Annie Tuttle.
Col. Millett had various health problems over the last three to five years, including diabetes, said Mike Goldware, a family spokesman.
A cause of death was not announced. Funeral arrangements were pending.
Col. Millett was a regular at patriotic events locally and across the country. In April, Col. Millett served as grand marshal for the Salute to Veterans Parade in Riverside. Earlier this year, a park in San Jacinto was dedicated in his name.
"He was a regular at the (Riverside) National Cemetery," Goldware said. "If he could get on board a military transport, he would go anywhere for the troops."
Col. Millett was born in Mechanic Falls, Maine, on Dec. 15, 1920. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1940 and served as an air gunner, then joined the Canadian Army when it appeared the United States would not enter World War II.
"He joined the Royal Canadian Army after President Roosevelt said in a speech that no American boy would fight on foreign soil," Goldware said.
He returned to the U.S. Army in 1942 upon the United States' entrance into World War II and served in the 1st Armored Division. After making sergeant, he was awarded a battlefield commission.
According to his Medal of Honor Citation, then-Capt. Millett distinguished himself "above and beyond the call of duty in action" in Korea, after he and his men came under heavy enemy fire on Feb. 7, 1951.
He ordered and led a bayonet counterattack up the hill, killing enemy soldiers in hand-to-hand assault during which he was wounded by a grenade blast. But by early afternoon, his company had taken the hill.
He was presented the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman in July 1951.
He retired as a colonel in 1973 after a 31-year career in which he served in World War II, Korea War and the Vietnam War.
Korean War/CCF Spring Offensive (1951)/Operation Strangle
From Month/Year
May / 1951
To Month/Year
July / 1951
Description Operation Strangle (Korean War) was a U.S. Air Force (USAF) bombing campaign of the Korean War. In Summer 1951, as the war bogged down into mutual defensive ground warfare characterized by trench warfare, United Nations close air support found fewer and poorer targets for its fighter-bombers. The USAF turned to interdiction of Korean lines of communication in an effort to cut the communist supply lines.
Operation Strangle's 87,552 interdiction sorties were credited with destroying 276 locomotives, 3,820 railroad cars, and 19,000 rail cuts. They also destroyed 34,211 other vehicles. However, by December 1951, the communists repaired rail cuts in less than six hours, bridges in two to four days, and other bomb damage accordingly quickly. By May 1952, it was apparent that the communist supply efforts had actually increased support to their front line troops despite the air attacks. By June, half of communist antiaircraft guns—132 cannons and 708 automatic seapons—were posted along North Korea's railroads.
