Student project unearths forgotten hero

Following Veteran’s Day last year, I proposed a joint project between the Naselle-Grays River High School (NHS), The Appelo Archive Center in Naselle and the American Legion Post 111 in Deep River. The project was to have NHS juniors in my US History class interview veterans living in the school district and video tape those interviews so their experiences could be preserved for future generations. As a part of that project, Tavish Hammonds and Rachel Underwood interviewed William (Billy) Wuorinen, a resident of Naselle.

As the interview unfolded, Rachel and Tavish were amazed to learn that the retired logger is a true hero of the Korean war but he had never been awarded the Silver Medal he had been promised and rightly deserved. During the battle for Gibraltar Hill on March 17, 1953, the action was so fierce that 134 of the 150 men in L company were either killed or wounded. Billy was a rifleman in that company. He and another soldier from I company pulled a badly wounded colonel into a foxhole and protected him from advancing Chinese soldiers while attending to his wounds. A full description of that action can be found at the end of this article. When other American forces arrived and the colonel was being taken away for medical treatment, he pledged he would make sure Billy and the other soldier, Private Stanley, were each awarded the Silver Star. Private Stanley did receive a Silver Star and later the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for his role in the action. The colonel whose life Billy helped to save was also awarded the Silver Star. Billy was given a battlefield promotion to staff sergeant but, to date, has never received the promised award.

After completing the interview with Billy Wuorinen, many of the US History students wrote letters to U. S. Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler and some of our US senators describing the situation and requesting their assistance in convincing the U.S. army to award Mr. Wuorinen the recognition he so justly deserves. In a parallel action, American Legion Post 111 in Deep River is making a similar request through military channels.

US Representative Beutler after meeting with the American legion and receiving the letters from our students made a formal request to the military on Mr. Wuorinen’s behalf, requesting that he receive the medal.

Description of action given below about Mr. Wuorinen.

"At 2 a.m. on March 17, 1953, the 150 men of L Company, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division joined the battle to take Gibraltar Hill. The hill was occupied by two regiments of Chinese who had the advantage of the high ground. The fighting was fierce during those early morning hours. Of the 150 men in L Company, 134 were either killed or wounded during the battle. Sometime between 5 and 6 a.m., William (Billy) Wuorinen, a rifleman in L Company, spotted a wounded soldier lying on the open ground. He and another soldier, Private Courtney L. Stanley from I Company, decided that with the Chinese advancing toward him, the soldier was sure to be captured or killed if they did not get to him first. They were able to reach him and quickly dragged him to a foxhole. That soldier was Colonel Harry A. Clark Jr. from Easy Company. He was badly wounded in the legs and was losing blood fast. Billy told Courtney, “One of us has got to keep those Chinese back while the other stops this guy from bleeding to death.” Courtney replied, “I can’t stand blood. I’ll try to keep them back while you work on him.” Courtney, armed with a BAR, began firing at the 16 or so Chinese soldiers who were firing at them and advancing on their foxhole. Billy cut open the colonel’s pant legs and began applying tourniquets to Col. Clark’s legs. Remembering his military first aid training, he kept track of the time and loosened the tourniquets every 15 minutes for a short period of time in order to prevent gangrene from setting in. Not long into his defense of the foxhole, Private Stanley’s BAR jammed. Billy told him to take his M1 rifle and, in between loosening of the tourniquets, he dissembled the BAR and managed to clear the jam so Private Stanley could put it to use again. The fighting got so close that, at one time, the colonel directed them to take all of their personal possessions except their Geneva Convention cards and burn them. They quickly placed their wallets and other possessions in a pile and ignited them. Several times, they ran low of ammunition and had to run stooped over in trenches from foxhole to foxhole collecting what shells they could find. With each loosening of the tourniquets, the blood flow lessened as clotting began to occur. Around 8 a.m. Billy and Courtney could see U.S. soldiers advancing up the hill toward their position. By the time U.S. soldiers came upon the occupants of the foxhole, Private Stanley had killed eight of the advancing Chinese and Billy’s use of the tourniquets had stopped the loss of blood from Col. Clark. As the colonel was being prepared to be carried to the medical area, Private Wourinen used some of the colonel's blood to write on the colonel's forehead the time the tourniquets had last been loosened. As he was about to be carried away, Colonel Clark thanked both men for saving his life and stated he would put each of them in for the Silver Star.

Rightly so, much was made of Private Stanley’s role in the affair. Both Private Stanley and Colonel Clark were awarded the Silver Star. Private Stanley was later awarded the DSC as well. To this day, the only recognition by the military for Private Wuorinen’s actions was a battlefield promotion to staff sergeant. Several decades after that event, Billy contacted Mr. Clark, the man whose life he helped to save, and told him he had never received the Silver Star that the then Colonel Clark had said he would request for him. Mr. Clark replied, “it was a long time ago and I no longer involve myself in military things,” and hung up his phone.

The class has also interviewed Richard Cary (1st infantry, Vietnam sergeant) and Bob Bowker (Navy, Pacific Theater 1945-46) and has a list of nearly 50 veterans for possible interviewing. Lyle Patterson will also be interviewed by the class.