"A Marine and his Ka-Bar" Topic

… After a round ricocheted off his rifle, Stogner continued to fight the enemy with his Ka-Bar and saved his fellow Marine. Enemy troops then pushed across the field, killing wounded Marines and taking their equipment. Stogner, armed with his Ka-bar knife, low crawled through the dark near his wounded fellow comrades and managed to kill three NVA troops with his knife.

That's just the start.
link

Wolfhag

What a shame that such well deserved recognition had to wait for so long, better late than never though.

Wow!

Wolf,
I had heard of Stogner's actions before, but it was while
his heroism was being reviewed before his award of the Navy
Cross. There was a lot of effort made for him to receive
the Medal of Honor.

Any case, one hell of a Marine!

Thanks for the update. Did not know he finally got the medal.

Sam

Hell of job Marine !

I have a K-Bar in my knife inventory too …

Bismark,
I read another account of a Marine in VN using a Ka-bar. This platoon had a skinny Afro-American Marine that was always sharpening his knife and the guys were always kidding him about it. One night the position was overrun. In the morning they found him KIA just outside his bunker entrance. There were 4 NVA KIA next to him, all apparently killed by a knife. Unfortunately, no one noticed the action, I don't recall any specific awards.

Gunny Howards's Recon Platoon did a lot of work with Ka-bars the night they were attacked on that hill all night and he was awarded the MOH.

Are the Marines still issuing edged weapons? I don't think my son got one when he was over there.

I have a 1943 issue Ka-bar, Old Corps.

Wolfhag

Wolf,
I had the honor of saluting GySgt Howard at MCRD San Diego.
He was a big guy. Was startled when I saw him. I was a hard charging PFC in BES then. Was walking toward the px and he was coming from the opposite direction. I think my eyes widened and my jaw dropped before I snapped to and saluted him. Word had it that if a fight broke out in the E club, he would go in alone and break it up! Did not know about the African American Marine.

Sam

Ah yes, fights at the E club, those were the good old days, and at the dive bars across from Camp Geiger.

I never met anyone famous when I was in other than the Marine Rifle Team Captain WO David Boyd at Quantico (I shot against him when I was a civilian).

I had the honor of attending a Marine Corps League function and had breakfast with Kyle Carpenter and attended a talk by Sgt Maj Bradley Kassel at the Marine Corps Memorial Hotel and had him sign his book for me. Californa has been great regarding having old WWII vets give talks and get to meet them 1on1.

Kyle is a small guy and very humble. He talked about his journey through his rehab and knowing what "Embrace the suck" really means. He said he was at a bar with two of his Marine buddies and they were going to hit on some girls. Kyle told them, "You guys take the ugly ones, I get the good-looking one, I've already taken a grenade for you guys".

I did volunteer work and fundraising for the Sentinels of Freedom to help severely wounded serviceman make the transition to civilian life. It's amazing to see what some of these wounded men and women have gone through, their recovery and success. It makes your problems seem insignificant.

Wolfhag

Wow! Glad he was finally recognized for his heroic act.