William B. Baugh

He covered a grenade to shield comrades in an ambushed truck

William Bernard Baugh was born in McKinney, Kentucky, on 7 July 1930. He attended school in Butler County, Ohio, and worked for Harrison Shoe Corporation before joining the Marine Corps on 23 January 1948. After recruit training at Parris Island, he served at Camp Lejeune. His battalion deployed to the Mediterranean before returning in May 1950. In Korea he participated in the Inchon landing and the advance through Seoul before moving to the Chosin Reservoir area.

William Bernard Baugh earned the Medal of Honor on the road from Koto-ri to Hagaru-ri, Korea, on November 29, 1950. A private first class in Company G, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, he was part of an antitank assault squad in a motorized column attacked at night.

When a grenade landed in the truck as his squad prepared to dismount, Baugh warned the men and covered it with his body. He sustained fatal wounds while protecting his comrades.

Born in McKinney, Kentucky, on July 7, 1930, Baugh received the medal posthumously. It was presented to his parents in Dayton, Ohio, on August 27, 1952. He is buried at Glen Haven Cemetery in Harrison, Ohio.

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 member of an antitank assault squad attached to Company G, during a nighttime enemy attack against a motorized column. Acting instantly when a hostile hand grenade landed in his truck as he and his squad prepared to alight and assist in the repulse of an enemy force delivering intense automatic-weapons and grenade fire from deeply entrenched and well-concealed roadside positions, Pfc. Baugh quickly shouted a warning to the other men in the vehicle and, unmindful of his personal safety, hurled himself upon the deadly missile, thereby saving his comrades from serious injury or possible death. Sustaining severe wounds from which he died a short time afterward, Pfc. Baugh, by his superb courage and valiant spirit of self-sacrifice, upheld the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.