Skinner Awarded Medal of Honor; Killed in Action

Sherrod E. Skinner, Jr. '51, killed in action in Korea nearly a year ago, has been posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Skinner is the second Harvard alumnus to receive the nation's highest military decoration--the first to be so honored for his performance in Korea. The other holder of the decoration is Pierpont Morgan Hamilton '20.

A former resident of East Lansing, Mich., Marine Lieutenant Skinner was killed on Oct. 26, 1952. He is one of the nearly two dozen Harvard men who died in Korea.

Skinner was honored for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action beyond the call of duty." He had been in the battle area only a month when killed.

Twice-wounded during the course of a heavy enemy attack, Skinner, an artillery observer, refused medical aid until others in his group were attended. Twice he left the protection of his bunker to direct American machine-gun fire and to pick up fresh ammunition supplies.

Both times he was wounded.

When their ammunition was exhausted and their outpost surrounded by Communist soldiers, the Americans "played dead" at Skinner's order. The pretense succeeded.

But three hours later, a suspicious Communist soldier tossed a grenade into the Americans' bunker. Skinner, according to the official citation, "threw himself on the deadly missile in an effort to protect the others, absorbing the full force of the explosion and sacrificing his life for his comrades."