Duane E. Dewey

Already wounded he covered a grenade to protect his comrades

Duane Edgar Dewey was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on 16 November 1931. He grew up during the Depression and later moved with his family to Muskegon. He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve on 7 March 1951, trained at Parris Island and Camp Pendleton, and reached Korea in October 1951.

Dewey earned the Medal of Honor near Panmunjom, Korea, on 16 April 1952. A Marine corporal and machine gunner with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, he was receiving treatment during a fierce night attack when a grenade landed nearby. Although already in intense pain, Dewey pulled the corpsman down, warned the surrounding Marines and covered the grenade. He absorbed the explosion to protect his companions. His award recognizes the courage of a wounded Marine who placed others’ survival ahead of his own.

Dewey survived and recovered in military hospitals before leaving the Marine Corps in August 1952. President Dwight D. Eisenhower presented his Medal of Honor at the White House on 12 March 1953. Dewey worked in a piano factory in South Haven, Michigan, before establishing an office-machine repair business. He died in Saint Augustine, Florida, on 11 October 2021 and is buried in Florida National Cemetery at Bushnell.

Medal of Honor citation

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a gunner in a machine-gun platoon of Company E, in action against enemy aggressor forces. When an enemy grenade landed close to his position while he and his assistant gunner were receiving medical attention for their wounds during a fierce night attack by numerically superior hostile forces, Cpl. Dewey, although suffering intense pain, immediately pulled the corpsman to the ground and, shouting a warning to the other marines around him, bravely smothered the deadly missile with his body, personally absorbing the full force of the explosion to save his comrades from possible injury or death. His indomitable courage, outstanding initiative, and valiant efforts in behalf of others in the face of almost certain death reflect the highest credit upon Cpl. Dewey and enhance the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.