In fall 1950, Cpl. Lee Hugh Phillips found himself in the rugged, sub-freezing terrain of Korea. He was a squad leader in Company E, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines. Marching north with his fellow Marines toward the Chosin Reservoir, he would soon see some of the fiercest fighting of the Korean War.
On Nov. 4, 1950, Phillips and his unit were tasked to capture a heavily fortified hill that had already resisted five previous assaults. The enemy was deeply entrenched, well-armed and numerically superior. Taking the point position without hesitation, Phillips led his men up the steep slope in a bayonet charge, directly into a storm of mortar shells, small arms and machine-gun fire.
When his squad was pinned down, Phillips pushed forward through the barrage. By the time the squad reached the crest of the hill, only five men remained. Outnumbered and exhausted, he and his small group stood their ground. With rifle fire and grenades, he led a charge that overwhelmed the opposing force. Phillips and his two remaining men could see the hill’s final enemy stronghold defended by four enemy troops, atop a nearly unreachable rocky cliff.
Climbing the jagged slope with one hand, hurling grenades with the other, and against all odds, the trio destroyed the last pocket of resistance and secured the hill. After another counterattack came, Phillips and his men directed fire, repelled the assault and claimed victory for his unit. That day Phiilips and his men became members of what has henceforth been called “The Chosin Few.”
It was an extraordinary display of courage, leadership, and determination. Though he survived that battle, a few weeks later, on November 27, during continued fighting near the Chosin Reservoir, Cpl. Lee Hugh Phillips was fatally injured. He was 20.
For his actions on that November day, Phillips was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration. In 1954, his mother accepted the medal on his behalf, a symbol of both immense pride and profound loss.
Phillips was the 40th Marine to earn the Medal of Honor for his actions in Korea. Along with that honor, his decorations include the Purple Heart and the Presidential Unit Citation with two Bronze Star medals.
He is remembered not just as a Marine, but as a hero who, in the face of overwhelming odds, chose courage over fear and leadership over safety. Today, his story of “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty” lives on. Cpl. Lee H. Phillips is buried with his troops near the Chosin Reservoir in Korea. He is memorialized at the Wall of the Missing, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, as well as with a cenotaph at the Marietta National Cemetery in Georgia.
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The correct name of the medal is
“The Congressional Medal of Honor!”
[Editor: It is often referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor, though the official name of the award is simply “Medal of Honor.” You can learn more on the history of the medal at the Library of Congress website, which confirms the name: https://www.loc.gov/collections/charles-reed/articles-and-essays/the-medal-of-honor/ , at the Department of Defense website: https://www.war.gov/Multimedia/Experience/honors-for-valor/ and further corroboration at the unaffiliated CMOHS: https://www.cmohs.org/news-events/medal-of-honor-congressional-gold-medal-presidential-medal-of-freedom/ ]
My dad is part of the Chosin Few and is 93 today. It took him decades before he could even talk about what he experienced. He had just turned 18 in August 1950 and it is only by the hand of God that the men who made it out of there alive, did. The brutalities and horrors of war are enough – but these me had the below zero temps, the terrain, the constant exposure to the elements. I seriously cannot imagine. My heart will for always salute, respect, appreciate the lives laid down for the gift of freedom we have today. I am so honoured and proud of our service men and women . Glad to have Cpl Phillips remembered and a moment for others to take pause and remember the bravery of those who were part of this battle that our war college uses to this day. They truly were up against impossible odds with the deck stacked against them. Watch the documentaries, if you haven’t.
True story poorly written. Corporal Phillips was not buried with “his troops”. He was buried with “his Marines”, whose bodies could not be carried with the Division as it fought its way to Wonsan.
In all my days as a U.S. Marine I was never “tasked” with anything. I was “ordered”, “directed”, “assigned” to do whatever. But no one in the Marines in my experience ever used that strange, made-up word “tasked” that now pops up in articles in newspapers, etc., written, apparently, by people who were never involved in serious matters with Marines.
Language and words matter. Show respect for them, to accurately represent the occurrences you wish to describe.
Well said. I too become frustrated when I hear sailors being refered to as soldiers. Or Marines as soldiers. And last, a Navy captain is not the same as an Army, Marines, Airforce, and I guess the Space force. One is an O-3 and the other is an O-6.
It is always an honor to hear about these things. Stories and events like this should be told very often.
So many things happen in the background that nobody knows.