More information:

https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/Article/2557866/medal-of-honor-monday-navy-corpsman-richard-d-dewert/

https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-people/d/de-wert-richard.html

Hospital Corpsman Richard David DeWert (Korea) is a Notable burial at https://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/massachusetts.asp. He received the Medal of Honor posthumously for service in the U.S. Navy in recognition of courageous initiative rendering medical assistance and heroic self-sacrifice in Korea, April 5, 1951. His remains were returned to the United States in October and interred in Woodlawn National Cemetery in New York. When Massachusetts National Cemetery opened, his family requested his remains be reinterred in his home state which occurred on October 14, 1987, 
https://mohmuseum.org/medal_of_honor/richard-dewert/.
*The preceding content is not intended as a comprehensive biography, but it highlights their significance as a result of military or civilian distinction, lasting achievements, or association with impactful national events. 

USS DeWert (FFG-45) de-commissioned in 2014.

Massachusetts National Cemetery

April 2, 1951, Operation Rugged kicked off. Part of the United Nation forces' re-invasion of North Korea after they had been pushed back from the Chinese border, it attempted to push the communist forces north of the 38th parallel again. 

For Navy Reserve Hospital Corpsman Richard De Wert, from Taunton, Massachusetts, and the Marines of Dog Company, 5th Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, their objective would be hill 439, north of Hongchon. 

Military service was common in De Wert’s family. The former Boy Scouts of America’s father, William was a U.S. Navy fireman 3rd class in the Pacific during World War II. Later his brother William Jr. would serve in the U.S. Marine Corps, leaving in 1966.

De Wert’s platoon headed out at 0730 and after a hour of hiking up hill 439, Chinese troops from a nearby ledge opened up with machine gun fire. Three Marines immediately were struck. As De Wert shifted his medical bag preparing to run, Platoon Sergeant, Sgt. Gonzalo Garza grabbed him and told him to wait. De Wert responded, “You do your job and I’ll do mine.” 

Sprinting into the open while the Chinese continued to fire, he dove near Pfc. Anthony Falatch. De Wert pulled Falatch on top of him, then grabbed him by the armpits and almost as if swimming on his back, kicked his way to safety. De Wert was hit in the legs just as he and the Marine reached safety. 

Ignoring the wounds, he then sprinted to Cpl. Donald Sly, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him to safety. 

As he sprinted out a third time, De Wert was hit in the shoulder, ripping flesh and shattering bones. But he persisted. This time as he reached Pfc. Richard Durham, he saw Durham was dead. A bullet to the head. Still De Wert pulled him out of the line of fire. 

By now the platoon started taking sporadic sniper fire as well. Squad Leader, Cpl. Keith Ester was shot in the knee. As De Wert leaned over him providing aid, a burst of machine gun fire hit him, killing him instantly. 

After the battle, Pfc. Chuck Curley and Cpl. Art Rud carried De Wert’s body from the field, water pouring from the bullet holes in De Wert’s canteen. 

For his actions that day, De Wert was awarded the Medal of Honor. In 1983, the USS De Wert (FFG-45) was commissioned. His brother William was at the commissioning ceremony. The medical clinic on board Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island and the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, California are also named in his honor. 

Hospital Corpsman Richard De Wert is interred at Massachusetts National Cemetery. He was 19. 

More about De Wert can be found in the book “Running with the Dogs,” by Frederick Frankville. Much of the information for this post is from an article by Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman Fred Kasper in Navy Medicine, Volume 96. #NoVeteranEverDies

RICHARD DAVID DEWERT

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