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| -Obits- |
| Col Lewis Millett -- From deserter to colonel over 3 wars and a bayonet charge |
| 2009-11-19 |
| Col. Lewis L. Millett, an Army veteran of three wars who received the Medal of Honor for leading a rare bayonet charge up a hill in Korea, died Saturday in Loma Linda, Calif. He was 88. Lewis Lee Millett was born in Mechanic Falls, Me., but grew up in Massachusetts. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1940, then went AWOL to fight for Canada on the side of Britain against Nazi Germany. After serving in England with Canadian troops, he transferred back to the American Army in 1942. A year later, the Army court-martialed him for having deserted. By then he was a sergeant, fighting in Italy, and had already taken part in the invasion of North Africa, winning a Silver Star in the Tunisian campaign. The Army fined him $52 and later gave him a commission as a lieutenant. When he became a company commander in the Korean War, serving as a captain in the 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, he seemed a visage from battlefields past with his red handlebar mustache. On Feb. 7, 1951, he employed a tactic of bygone wars with a fury that overwhelmed the enemy. During the fighting near Osan, South Korea, Captain Millett's unit encountered Communist troops atop a spot called Hill 180. It would be remembered as Bayonet Hill for what the military historian Brig. Gen. S. L. A. Marshall would call "the most complete bayonet charge by American troops since Cold Harbor," a reference to the carnage at an 1864 Civil War battle in Virginia. |
| Posted by:Dar |
| #3 We've often heard the term 'a real American' used to describe individuals that exercise behavior which strongly demonstrate the powerful beliefs we imagine ourselves to have in the defense of this great country of late. Mr. Millett is an example of a great American, a great Canadian, a great Italian, a great Korean, but carrying the flag of duty to Freedom which many of us aspire to in his heart. Would that we had more of you Colonel. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2009-11-19 23:51 |
| #2 RIP Col Millett..next to the definition of "bad-ass" in the dictionary should be your picture. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2009-11-19 22:20 |
| #1 Pffftttt! He weren't no "community organizer" now were he? Underacheiver! |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2009-11-19 19:23 |