Reginald Benjamin Desiderio

Twice wounded and refusing evacuation both times, Captain Reginald Benjamin Desiderio remained with his soldiers as enemy troops broke into their position near Ipsok, Korea, on November 27, 1950. When the attack penetrated the American defenses, Desiderio did not withdraw. Armed with a carbine, rifle, and grenades, he personally charged the enemy and fought until he was mortally wounded. His men, inspired by their company commander, repelled the final assault. That extraordinary last stand earned Desiderio the Medal of Honor, but it was not the first time his courage under fire had been formally recognized.

Reginald Benjamin Desiderio was born on September 12, 1918, in Clairton, Pennsylvania. U.S. Army Medal of Honor records identify Gilroy, California, as the place from which he entered military service. By 1941 he was serving with the California National Guard when he entered federal service, and he subsequently received a commission through Officer Candidate School. Modern U.S. Army OCS records include Captain Reginald B. Desiderio among the program's Medal of Honor recipients.

During World War II, Desiderio served with the 275th Infantry Regiment of the 70th Infantry Division and established the battlefield record that would later make his final stand in Korea less an isolated act than the culmination of a career marked by repeated leadership under fire. As a first lieutenant, he commanded Company C, 275th Infantry, during the bitter fighting around Philippsbourg, France.

On January 8, 1945, Desiderio led a four-man reconnaissance patrol near Philippsbourg when the patrol encountered eight German soldiers preparing new mortar positions. Enemy machine-gun fire stopped the patrol. Desiderio ordered his men to withdraw while he remained behind and crawled forward alone. From approximately sixty yards away, he fired two grenades from his carbine, destroying the enemy weapon and killing one German. He then engaged the remaining enemy soldiers in a firefight, killing another and wounding three before returning to obtain mortar and artillery support. For this action he received the Silver Star, formally recorded in Headquarters, 3rd Infantry Division, General Orders No. 394, dated December 15, 1945. The citation recognized gallantry in action and documents in unusually vivid detail the personal risk Desiderio accepted to protect his patrol and break the enemy position.

His combat record did not end there. Desiderio ultimately received three Bronze Star Medal awards, represented by two oak leaf clusters.

One of those awards came for heroic achievement from January 9 through January 11, 1945. While serving with Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 275th Infantry, Desiderio was involved in fierce fighting for commanding terrain overlooking Obermuhlthal, France. Heavy casualties among the commanders of three American companies left their surviving troops disorganized at a critical moment. Desiderio took command of the remnants, reorganized the men under concentrated artillery and mortar fire, and led them forward with such aggression that the enemy was forced to withdraw. The citation praised his courageous leadership and superior performance of duty. The award was published in 70th Infantry Division General Orders No. 53, dated July 2, 1945.

A second Bronze Star entitlement was formally recorded as the first oak leaf cluster to his Bronze Star Medal in Headquarters, 3rd Infantry Division, General Orders No. 378, dated November 2, 1945. That order credited Desiderio with meritorious achievement on January 2, 1945, at Philippsbourg, France. The order identifies him as a captain, then a first lieutenant, and records that he had been serving with Company C, 275th Infantry Regiment during the action.

His third Bronze Star award was documented as the second oak leaf cluster in Headquarters, 3rd Infantry Division, General Orders No. 2, dated January 11, 1946. It recognized meritorious achievement from February 17 through May 8, 1945, in France and Germany, during a period when Desiderio served as adjutant of the 1st Battalion, 275th Infantry Regiment. Together, these orders establish three Bronze Star Medal awards, not four, and provide the documentary foundation for the two oak leaf clusters displayed on his reconstructed ribbon rack.

Desiderio remained connected to the Army after World War II. An official U.S. Army Reserve history records that, while serving as a Regular Army adviser to an Organized Reserve unit, he encountered another highly decorated World War II combat veteran, Raymond Harvey. Harvey wanted to return voluntarily to active Army service, and Desiderio handled the necessary paperwork. Harvey returned to active duty in 1948 and later became a company commander in Korea, where he too earned the Medal of Honor. It is a remarkable intersection in the lives of two future Korean War Medal of Honor recipients.

By the autumn of 1950, Desiderio had been sent to Korea. His surviving correspondence provides an unusually personal record of his final weeks. He landed at Pusan on October 1, moved north with the 25th Infantry Division, and eventually assumed command of Company E, 27th Infantry Regiment, the famed Wolfhounds. His letters initially reflected hope that the fighting was nearing an end, but that optimism faded as Chinese forces entered the war and the situation deteriorated. By November he was describing bitter cold, growing enemy activity, patrols, roadblocks, ambushes, and the increasing likelihood of major combat. His last surviving letter to his wife was dated November 23, only four days before his death.

On November 27, 1950, Captain Desiderio and Company E were near Ipsok during the massive Chinese offensive. His company was ordered to defend a task-force command post against an enemy breakthrough. During darkness and under intense fire, Desiderio personally reconnoitered the threatened ground and positioned his soldiers for the attack. He was wounded early in the fighting but refused evacuation. Instead, he continued moving through enemy fire, checking positions and making certain his men were prepared for the next assault.

Then he was wounded again.

Desiderio still refused to leave.

As enemy pressure increased, he continued directing and encouraging his soldiers. When hostile troops finally penetrated the American position, Desiderio personally counterattacked. His official Medal of Honor citation records that he charged with a carbine, rifle, and grenades, inflicting heavy casualties before being mortally wounded. His example rallied the defenders, who repelled the final attack. Desiderio was killed in action that day at the age of thirty-two. His wounds from the battle also account for the Purple Heart associated with his Korean War service.

For his actions near Ipsok, Captain Reginald B. Desiderio was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. The award was officially published in Department of the Army General Orders No. 58, dated August 2, 1951. The citation recognized his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity," his repeated refusal to place his own safety before that of his soldiers, and the leadership that enabled Company E to hold its position.

There was a poignant continuity within Company E after his death. Less than three months later, on February 7, 1951, Captain Lewis L. Millett led the same company of the 27th Infantry Regiment in its famous bayonet assault near Soam-Ni. Millett also received the Medal of Honor. Company E had produced two Medal of Honor actions within little more than ten weeks, first under Desiderio at Ipsok and then under Millett during the renewed fighting in 1951.

Desiderio was laid to rest at San Francisco National Cemetery, where the Department of Veterans Affairs records his grave at Section OS, Row 128, Site 20. His name remains embedded in the institutional memory of the U.S. Army. Desiderio Army Airfield at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in South Korea carries his name, preserving a direct connection between his sacrifice and the Army's continuing presence on the Korean Peninsula.

His memory also endures in California. The former Army Reserve Center in Pasadena bore his name, and Desiderio Neighborhood Park, located beneath the historic Colorado Street Bridge, now continues that memorial. The City of Pasadena specifically notes that the park contains a plaque recognizing Medal of Honor recipient Reginald Desiderio, for whom the park is named.

Reginald Benjamin Desiderio's story is powerful because Ipsok was not his first test under fire. In France, he had already crawled alone toward an enemy machine gun to protect a reconnaissance patrol. Days later, he took command of shattered units under artillery and mortar fire and drove the fight forward. Across the remaining months of the European war, his service brought two additional Bronze Star awards. Five years later, in the freezing darkness of Korea, the same instinct appeared again. Wounded once, he stayed. Wounded twice, he stayed. When the enemy finally broke into his position, he went forward to meet them.

Captain Reginald Benjamin Desiderio died leading from the front. His Medal of Honor recognized the final action of a soldier whose earlier Silver Star and three Bronze Star awards had already documented a remarkable record of courage, responsibility, and leadership in combat.