The Graybeards - Korean War Veterans Association
The Graybeards - Korean War Veterans Association
The Graybeards - Korean War Veterans Association
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Congressman Ehrlich replaces stolen Medal of Honor<br />
By Vincent A. Krepps<br />
News From the Office of Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.<br />
Second Congressional District of Maryland,<br />
315 Cannon House Office Building,<br />
Washington, D.C. 20515<br />
Washington, D.C. - On December 2,<br />
Congressman Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. presented<br />
the Congressional Medal of Honor<br />
in Sergeant Donn Porter’s memory to his<br />
alma mater, Saint James School near<br />
Hagerstown, MD.<br />
In attendance was Admiral James<br />
Holloway, U.S.N. Ret., former Chief of<br />
Naval Operations, Students of St. James<br />
School in Hagerstown at the Chapel at<br />
Saint James School. 17641 College Road,<br />
St. James, MD (near Hagerstown)<br />
Congressman Ehrlich stated, “It is a<br />
tremendous honor to have the opportunity<br />
to remember a Maryland hero, Sergeant<br />
Donn Porter, by presenting his alma mater<br />
with his Congressional Medal of Honor.”<br />
Originally, Sergeant Porter was awarded<br />
the nation’s highest decoration posthumously<br />
for his “incredible display of<br />
valor” in Korea during September, 1952.<br />
While under intense fire, the young sergeant<br />
killed six enemy soldiers in bayonet<br />
fighting and forced his opponents to flee<br />
before being killed. Porter’s “gallant selfsacrifice<br />
and consummate devotion to<br />
duty” saved his comrades.<br />
Subsequently, Porter’s mother, Mrs.<br />
Edith Shaner of Ruxton, MD, donated the<br />
Medal of Honor to St. James School for<br />
display. Unfortunately, the award was<br />
stolen, and initial efforts by the family and<br />
school to replace it were unsuccessful.<br />
Congressman Ehrlich stated, “My staff<br />
and I finally secured this medal after<br />
months of work and a lot of bureaucracy!<br />
This medal ceremony will be a proud<br />
moment for us all.”<br />
By recognizing these and many other<br />
brave men and women, we pay tribute to<br />
all who died and those in our Armed<br />
Forces who are carrying forward the spirit<br />
of courage and patriotism.<br />
This ceremony will be an inspiration to<br />
the students of Saint James School and an<br />
example of honor and courage by a true<br />
hero. Today, we live in freedom and prosperity<br />
because of these Americans.”<br />
U.S. Rep Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr, and Adm. James L.<br />
Holloway III. Photo: RIC DUGAN / staff photographer<br />
<strong>The</strong> following article was in <strong>The</strong><br />
Morning Herald Hagerstown, MD<br />
Friday December 3, 1999<br />
<strong>The</strong> Return of Valor<br />
Stolen Medal of Honor replaced at St.<br />
James School<br />
By DAN KULIN / Staff Writer<br />
ST. JAMES - <strong>The</strong> nation’s highest military<br />
decoration, a Medal of Honor, was handed<br />
over to St. James School on Thursday,<br />
replacing a medal that was stolen from the<br />
school about 20 years ago.<br />
<strong>The</strong> original medal had been awarded,<br />
posthumously, to Donn Porter, a 1949 Saint<br />
James School graduate who was an Army<br />
sergeant during the <strong>Korean</strong> <strong>War</strong>.<br />
Porter, of Ruxton, Md., was awarded the<br />
medal for his actions on Sept. 7, 1952, when<br />
two enemy platoons attacked an outpost<br />
under his command. Porter repelled two<br />
enemy attacks on his position that day. In the<br />
second attack, Porter “jumped from his<br />
position with bayonet fixed and, meeting the<br />
onslaught and in close combat, killed six<br />
hostile soldiers and routed the attack,”<br />
according to the citation. Porter was killed<br />
by an artillery burst while returning to his<br />
outpost. In 1953, Congress awarded the<br />
medal to Porter and Porter’s family donated<br />
it to the school. <strong>The</strong>n around 1982 the medal<br />
was stolen, said school headmaster Father<br />
Stuart Dunnan.<br />
<strong>The</strong> replacement medal was acquired<br />
with the help of U.S. Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich<br />
Jr., R-Md. John Worthington, a 1969 Saint<br />
James School graduate and friend and constituent<br />
of Ehrlich’s, asked the congressman<br />
to help get the replacement medal.<br />
Ehrlich put a staff member on the task.<br />
Eventually, Ehrlich met with a general, who<br />
he pulled from a Capitol Hill office party, and<br />
the general was able to help.<br />
Ehrlich presented the medal to the school<br />
Thursday afternoon during a ceremony in<br />
the school chapel. <strong>The</strong> ceremony was<br />
attended by Saint James students and some<br />
alumni, including about a dozen of Porter’s<br />
classmates.<br />
Tim Grier, who graduated with Porter,<br />
said it was good the school was getting a<br />
replacement medal. “It’s very good for the<br />
young boys to have something to look up to.<br />
He was a genuine hero,” said Grier, of<br />
Annapolis.<br />
Another of Porter’s classmates, Robin<br />
Glattly, of Rockville, Md., said, “It brings<br />
back memories of a wonderful person.”<br />
Porter was captain of the school football and<br />
basketball teams and was popular, Glattly<br />
said. “When you read the account (of his<br />
fighting in the war) it didn’t surprise any of<br />
us,” Glattly said.<br />
Donn F. Porter<br />
Love sent Sgt. Donn F. Porter to Korea.<br />
<strong>The</strong> twenty-one-year-old from Ruxton,<br />
Maryland, was madly in love with a girl<br />
from home and longed to return to her.<br />
Since he’d enlisted in the army in<br />
February 1951, Porter had written his girl<br />
just about every day. Even while attending<br />
airborne and ranger school after basic<br />
training, Porter kept up a steady stream of<br />
letters to her. Whenever he could he called<br />
her, planning for their wedding as soon<br />
after his discharge as possible.<br />
In November 1951 Porter reported to<br />
the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat<br />
Team, then in garrison in Japan. Porter<br />
was well liked by the members of his platoon.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y knew him as a tall and slender<br />
youngster, quiet, and very loyal. One former<br />
platoon mate said, “You couldn’t ask<br />
for a better friend.” He spent a good deal<br />
of his off-duty time helping Porter shop<br />
for fine Japanese porcelain and dishes to<br />
send back to his girl.<br />
Normally, Porter would have spent<br />
eighteen months in Japan, the standard<br />
tour of duty, before rotating back to the<br />
States. In Korea, however, a GI with a<br />
front line outfit could complete a tour of<br />
duty in as little as nine months. Porter<br />
Page 38<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Graybeards</strong>