Woodrow Wilson Keeble

HE CRAWLED ALONE TO ATTACK THREE ENEMY MACHINE GUN POSITIONS

Woodrow Wilson Keeble (May 16, 1917–January 28, 1982) was a Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate soldier, baseball standout, teacher, and U.S. Army Master Sergeant whose actions in Korea earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor. Born at Waubay, South Dakota, he spent his early years on the Lake Traverse Reservation before his family moved to Wahpeton, North Dakota. At the Wahpeton Indian School he excelled in sports, especially baseball, and drew interest from professional teams. He set aside that opportunity to enlist in the North Dakota National Guard’s 164th Infantry Regiment after the United States entered World War II.

Keeble served in the Pacific, including combat on Guadalcanal, and received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. After the war he returned to North Dakota and taught at the school he had attended. When the Korean War began, he volunteered to deploy with the 164th Infantry and was sent to Korea in January 1951, later re-enlisting in the 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division.

On October 20, 1951, Keeble was acting platoon leader during an assault on Hill 765 near Sangsan-ni. Enemy fire from three fortified positions pinned down the attacking soldiers after repeated assaults had failed. Keeble moved forward alone under fire, crawled close to the first machine-gun emplacement, and destroyed it with a grenade. He then neutralized the second and third positions while enemy troops concentrated their fire and threw grenades at him. As the company advanced, he directed fire against nearby trenches and helped his unit seize the hill. The Medal of Honor citation recognizes his gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life and the inspiration his conduct gave the soldiers around him.

Keeble was wounded but remained with his unit in Korea for months. His comrades repeatedly recommended him for the Medal of Honor, but the paperwork was lost; he received the Distinguished Service Cross during his lifetime. After Korea, he resumed teaching at the Wahpeton Indian School. Tuberculosis treatment and strokes left him partly paralyzed and unable to speak. He married Blossom Iris Crawford-Hawkins in 1967 and continued supporting veterans’ organizations. After he died in 1982, family members, fellow soldiers, tribal representatives, and lawmakers continued the effort. President George W. Bush presented the Medal of Honor posthumously to Keeble’s stepson on March 3, 2008. Keeble’s story connects Dakota service, World War II combat, Korean War leadership, and a long-delayed recognition secured through persistence by those who knew his actions firsthand.

Sources: “Master Sergeant Woodrow W. Keeble,” Medal of Honor Recipient, The United States Army; “Woodrow W. Keeble,” National Museum of the United States Army; “First Sioux to Receive Medal of Honor,” The United States Army.