Reginald Rodney Myers

Outnumbered roughly sixteen to one in the frozen darkness of Korea, Major Reginald Rodney Myers did not wait for the battle to come to him. He gathered an improvised force of about 250 men and led them against an entrenched enemy force estimated at 4,000. What followed at Hagaru-ri became one of the defining actions of the Battle of Chosin Reservoir and earned Myers the Medal of Honor.

Reginald Rodney Myers was born on 26 November 1919 in Boise, Idaho. After attending school in Boise and Salt Lake City, he graduated from the University of Idaho in June 1941 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. He had risen to cadet colonel in the university's Reserve Officers Training Corps, but on 1 September 1941 he resigned his Army Reserve commission and accepted appointment as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.

His combat experience began long before Korea. After completing Marine Officers' Basic School and serving at San Diego, Myers joined the Marine detachment aboard USS New Orleans in June 1942. He fought through Guadalcanal, Tulagi, the Eastern Solomons and Tassafaronga. In July 1943 he took command of the Marine detachment aboard USS Minneapolis, participating in campaigns across the Gilbert, Marshall, Mariana and Western Caroline Islands. Promoted to major in January 1945, he returned to the Pacific and served with the 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, during the Okinawa campaign and the subsequent landing and occupation of northern China.

Yet it was Korea that would place Myers permanently in Marine Corps history. Ordered there in July 1950, Major Myers became executive officer of 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division. At the Inchon landing on 15 September, his combat service earned him a Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V." Only four days later, he helped rescue two wounded Marines under dangerous conditions and earned a second Bronze Star Medal, represented by a gold star on the first award. These were not his final acts of courage in Korea.

On 29 November 1950, during the desperate fighting around the Chosin Reservoir, Myers faced an extraordinary situation near Hagaru-ri. Chinese forces threatened the strategically vital perimeter, and Myers assumed command of a mixed force of approximately 250 Army and Marine personnel. Against an enemy estimated at 4,000, he immediately organized a counterattack. According to his Medal of Honor citation, he repeatedly exposed himself to intense enemy fire while directing his men, coordinating artillery and mortar fire, and driving the attack forward over a steep, snow-covered slope in subzero conditions.

The fighting continued for about 14 hours. Myers repeatedly reorganized his depleted command as casualties mounted, refusing to abandon the effort to restore the defensive perimeter. His citation credited the attacking force with inflicting approximately 600 enemy deaths and 500 wounded while regaining critical ground. It concluded that his exceptional leadership, self-sacrifice and devotion to duty upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. For this action, Myers received the Medal of Honor, presented to him by President Harry S. Truman at the White House on 29 October 1951.

His Korean War service continued after Hagaru-ri. Although he survived the Medal of Honor action without being wounded, Myers was wounded in action on 25 April 1951, resulting in the Purple Heart. His distinguished Korean service also included a Letter of Commendation with Combat "V", later represented by the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and his units accumulated multiple Presidential Unit Citations during the war. His official Marine Corps record lists four Presidential Unit Citation awards in total, shown by three bronze service stars on the ribbon.

Myers continued serving the Marine Corps for more than fifteen years after Korea. He held command and staff positions at Quantico, served as Assistant Naval Attaché at the American Embassy in London, and was promoted to colonel in July 1960. He later worked in strategic planning in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, served with the 3rd Marine Division on Okinawa, completed the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and earned a Master of Science degree in Business Administration from George Washington University in 1965. His later career was also recognized with the Legion of Merit, although the publicly available Marine Corps biography lists the award without reproducing its full narrative citation.

Colonel Reginald Rodney Myers retired from active service on 1 May 1967, closing a Marine Corps career that had stretched from the opening months of America's involvement in World War II through the Pacific campaigns, the occupation of China, the Korean War and senior Cold War assignments. He died on 23 October 2005 and was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

Myers's legacy is ultimately captured not simply by the number of campaigns he survived or the medals he earned, but by what he did when the situation appeared nearly impossible. At Hagaru-ri, with an improvised and badly outnumbered force, he chose to attack, stayed exposed beside his men and kept the assault moving through hours of brutal winter combat. That leadership made Colonel Reginald Rodney Myers one of the most remarkable U.S. Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipients of the Korean War.

Research note: I have incorporated the documented circumstances behind his Medal of Honor and both Bronze Star awards. The official Marine Corps biography confirms the Legion of Merit and Letter of Commendation with Combat "V", but the accessible public record does not reproduce their full individual citation texts. I have therefore not invented citation language or unsupported details for those awards.