Local Medal of Honor recipient dies

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  • By 25th Infantry Division
  • 25th Infantry Division
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  Retired Army Col. Lewis L. Millett, who earned the Medal of Honor during the Korean War for leading what reportedly was the last major American bayonet charge, died Nov 14 in Loma Linda at the age of 88.

Until his death, Colonel Millett was active with March ARB units and participated in veterans services, often as the guest of honor.

Colonel Millett had close ties with the Navy Operational Support Center Moreno Valley, who created a unit excellence award in his name in July.

"He was a patriot and active supporter of all branches of the military up until his passing away," said NOSC Moreno Valley Executive Officer Ed Giron. "I had the distinct honor of him pinning the Bronze Star on me in November of last year. It was a humbling experience and gave me and the entire staff working here a glimpse of what it takes to be a true warrior and a selfless servant to our nation."

Colonel Millett received the Medal of Honor for his actions Feb. 7, 1951. He led the 25th Infantry Division's Company E, 27th Infantry, in a bayonet charge up Hill 180 near Soam-Ni, Korea. A captain at the time, Millett was leading his company in an attack against a strongly held position when he noticed that a platoon was pinned down by small-arms, automatic, and antitank fire.

Colonel Millett placed himself at the head of two other platoons, ordered fixed bayonets, and led an assault up the fire-swept hill. In the fierce charge, Colonel Millett bayoneted two enemy soldiers and continued on, throwing grenades, clubbing and bayoneting the enemy, while urging his men forward by shouting encouragement, according to his Medal of Honor citation.

"Despite vicious opposing fire, the whirlwind hand-to-hand assault carried to the crest of the hill," the citation states. "His dauntless leadership and personal courage so inspired his men that they stormed into the hostile position and used their bayonets with such lethal effect that the enemy fled in wild disorder."

Colonel Millett was wounded by grenade fragments during the attack, but he refused evacuation until the objective was firmly secured. He recovered, and attended Ranger School after the war.

In the 1960s, he ran the 101st Airborne Division Recondo School for reconnaissance and commando training at Fort Campbell, Ky. He then served in a number of special operations advisory assignments in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. He founded the Royal Thai Army Ranger School with help of the 46th Special Forces Company. This unit reportedly is the only one in the U.S. Army to simultaneously be designated as both Ranger and Special Forces.

Millett retired from the Army in 1973. He served more than 15 years as the honorary colonel of the 27th Infantry Regiment Association.

"I was very saddened to hear Colonel Millett passed away," said Army Maj. Gen. Robert L. Caslen, Jr., the current commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. "He was a rare breed -- a true patriot who never stopped serving his country. He was a role model for thousands of soldiers, and he will be missed."

Millett was born in Maine and first enlisted in 1940 in the Army Air Corps and served as a gunner. Soon after, when it  appeared that the United States would not enter World War II, he left and joined the Canadian army.

In 1942, while Millett was serving in London, the United States entered the war. Millett turned himself in to the U.S. Embassy there and eventually was assigned to the 1st Armored Division. As an antitank gunner in Tunisia, Millett earned the Silver Star after he jumped into a burning halftrack filled with ammunition, drove it away from allied soldiers and jumped to safety just before the vehicle exploded. He later shot down a German fighter plane with a vehicle-mounted machine gun.

As a sergeant serving in Italy during the war, his desertion to join the Canadian forces caught up to him. He was court-martialed, fined $52 and denied leave. A few weeks later, he was awarded a battlefield commission. After the war, he joined the 103rd Infantry of the Maine National Guard, and he attended college until he was called back to active duty in 1949.

In addition to the Medal of Honor, Colonel Millett earned the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, two Legions of Merit and four Purple Hearts during his 35-year military career. After his retirement, he remained active in both national and local veterans groups from his Idyllwild, Calif., home.

His son, Army Staff Sgt John Morton Millett, was a member of the 101st Airborne Division returning from duty in the Sinai on Dec. 12, 1985, when a charter plane crashed upon takeoff after stopping at Gander, Newfoundland. He was one of 256 soldiers killed in the crash.

On Feb. 7, 1994, Millett was honored with a ceremony on Hill 180, now located on Osan Air Base, South Korea. The ceremony became an annual one, and the road running up the hill was named "Millett Road."

In June 2000, Millett returned to Seoul, South Korea, and served as keynote speaker at the Army's 225th Birthday Ball at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. All eight of the then-living Korean War Medal of Honor recipients attended the event.

This year, Millet served as the grand marshal of a Salute to Veterans parade April 21 in Riverside, Calif. He died Nov. 14 at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Loma Linda, of congestive heart failure.

A memorial service for Millett is scheduled for 10 a.m., Dec. 5 at the National Medal of Honor Memorial at Riverside National Cemetery.

Story courtesy of the 25th Infantry Division and Army News.