Whitt Lloyd Moreland

He shielded fellow Marines from a grenade on a Korean ridge.

Whitt Lloyd Moreland was born in Waco, Texas, on 7 March 1930. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in September 1948, spent a period in the Marine Corps Reserve, and returned to active duty in November 1950. In Korea he served as a private first class and intelligence scout with 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, attached to Company C for the action that earned his Medal of Honor.

On 29 May 1951 near Kwagch’i-Dong, Moreland volunteered to join a rifle platoon assault on a strongly defended hill. His rifle fire helped secure the position. He then led a party toward an enemy bunker about 400 metres ahead. When grenades landed among the Marines, he kicked several away. He slipped near another, warned his comrades, and covered it with his body. The explosion mortally wounded him and spared the men beside him. He was 21.

Moreland received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his gallantry and self-sacrifice. The medal was presented to his parents on 4 August 1952.

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 an intelligence scout attached to Company C, in action against enemy aggressor forces. Voluntarily accompanying a rifle platoon in a daring assault against a strongly defended enemy hill position, Pfc. Moreland delivered accurate rifle fire on the hostile emplacement and thereby aided materially in seizing the objective. After the position had been secured, he unhesitatingly led a party forward to neutralize an enemy bunker which he had observed some 400 meters beyond, and moving boldly through a fire-swept area, almost reached the hostile emplacement when the enemy launched a volley of hand grenades on his group. Quick to act despite the personal danger involved, he kicked several of the grenades off the ridgeline where they exploded harmlessly and, while attempting to kick away another, slipped and fell near the deadly missile. Aware that the sputtering grenade would explode before he could regain his feet and dispose of it, he shouted a warning to his comrades, covered the missile with his body and absorbed the full blast of the explosion, but in saving his companions from possible injury or death, was mortally wounded. His heroic initiative and valiant spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of certain death reflect the highest credit upon Pfc. Moreland and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.