Five Medals of Honor at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum
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| Photo credit: Soldiers & Sailors Hall & Museum |
The Soldiers & Sailors Hall & Museum unveiled a new exhibit of five (5) Medals of Honor, each received by heroes from Pennsylvania.
This display features medals from the Civil War, Indian Campaigns, WWII, Korean War and Vietnam.
Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in Oakland also inducted 14 new members to its Joseph A. Dugan Jr. Hall of Valor, which includes Medal of Honor recipients but also Pennsylvanians cited for heroism and bravery with the Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross, Air Force Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Airmen’s Medal or Soldier’s Medal.
The five medals are from the following recipients:
• Pvt. Charles Higby of the 1st Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry who captured the Confederate battle flag during the Appomattox Campaign.
• Sgt. John Kirkwood of Allegheny and Company M, 3rd Cavalry Regiment during the Great Sioux War of 1876-77, received the medal for valor after the Battle of Little Bighorn by tracking Sioux combatants and keeping them pinned down in a ravine, even though he had been shot in the side.
• During World War II, Staff Sgt. John W. Minick of Wall was in the 121st Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division, in Germany, where he led a squad through a minefield, silenced two enemy machine gun emplacements and engaged a larger force of German soldiers before being killed in a second minefield.
• Marine Staff Sgt. William E. Shuck Jr. of Ridgeley, W.Va., was squad leader of Company G in Korea. He led his machine gun squad and a rifle squad in a series of attacks despite his wounds, and kept the enemy at bay until all the dead and wounded were evacuated. He then was killed by a sniper bullet.
• Marine Lance Cpl. William Prom of Mount Troy led a machine gun squad in the Vietnam War and on his own engaged the enemy while his squad reunited to continue their march. Later he came to the aid of a soldier critically wounded and then mounted an attack in full view of the enemy, leading to his death while inspiring his squad to mount a successful counterattack.
Read more about how the medals were found and donated in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article: Five Medals of Honor shown at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum by David Templeton
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