Valor Friday

Command Sergeant Major Paul Huff

After yesterday’s noting the passing of Tommy Gwynn, one of the oldest men in Tennessee, I’ve got another legend of the Volunteer State.

A good while back Poetrooper (we miss you, brother) crossed paths with a Medal of Honor recipient. Poe was a young Rakkasan in the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. He’d sent me the name, and I added it to my (long) list of VF tips. The man Poe knew who wore the little pale blue ribbon at the top of his fruit salad was the grisled command sergeant major. Nearing 50, he was in his second major war, having served well over 20 years across at least three continents.

The story of Paul Huff begins in 1918 in Cleveland, Tennessee. At the southeast corner of the state, it’s a quaint-looking small town. As a young man, Huff got the nickname “Killer”, allegedly because of his skill in hunting squirrel and other varmints.

One of ten kids, Huff tragically lost his mother when he was just five years old. She died just a few months after giving birth to twin boys. His dad would remarry and give him three more half-siblings. Huff’s education ended with just one year of high school. In 1941, with the US gearing up as the world was once again at war, Huff enlisted into the US Army.

Huff volunteered to be a paratrooper. Assigned to the Army’s first airborne division (the 82nd Airborne), he was part of the service’s first combat parachute drop.

It was 8 November 1942 and the men of 2nd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment (509 PIR) had flown to Oran, Algeria directly from England. They dropped to secure two airfields. Of the 39 C-47 Skytrain troop carriers, seven got widely separated. Only 10 of the planes were able to drop their troops, with the others landing on a dry lake bed after nearly running out of fuel. They would march overland to secure their objective.

A week later, 33 planes dropped men of the 2/509th PIR onto Youks-les-Bains Airfield. As they jumped they could see troops in the trenches aroudn the base. Not knowing if they were Vichy French troops or Germans, they jumped anyway. Once on the ground they found the enemy troops were poorly equipped and largely friendly French. The airfield secured, it became a major base of operations for the Army Air Force, as the Allies continued to fight across North Africa and then across the Mediterranean.

Huff next saw action as part of the amphibious landing at Anzio, part of the invasion of mainland Italy. On 8 February 1944, Huff’s company was pinned down on its right flank by heavy German artillery shelling. Huff, now a corporal, volunteered to lead a six-man patrol to reconnoiter the enemy’s exact location.

They had to move across rough, open terrain. The enemy fired on them constantly. The Nazi troops hit them with small arms, machine gun, and mortar fire. With shells striking just five to ten yards around them, they continued moving forward. Bullets were hitting the ground at their feet, and Huff moved ahead of his men.

With the enemy’s excellent lines of sight on the advancing American, Huff was targeted by three enemy machine guns and a 20mm cannon. Realizing the danger he and his men were under, he advanced alone, through a minefield, to a point within 75 yards of the first enemy machine gun.

Taking direct fire from the rear machine guns, Huff crawled forward the 75 yards to the first nest and killed the enemy gunners with his submachine gun, then disabled the enemy gun. While dispatching the enemy, Huff had fired from a kneeling position. This exposed him to concentrated fire from the other enemy positions, allowing him to see exactly where they were and how many men were in each.

Still taking heavy fire from multiple enemy positions, Huff returned across the open ground to rejoin his patrol. He then led his men back to safety. He reported the results of his reconnoiter, and a patrol in strength was sent out to destroy the enemy positions.

Huff led one of the groups on this second patrol, and the Americans succeeding on routing a force of 125 Germans. They killed 27 Germans, captured 21, and sent the others in retreat. Thanks to the accurate information Huff had brought back from his earlier patrol, the Americans lost only three men on the assault against the well entrenched Germans.

As a result of his day’s heroics, Huff became the first paratrooper to receive the Medal of Honor. He received it from General Mark Clark on 8 June 1944 during a ceremony near Rome. A field presentation, it’s most interesting that Huff made no attempts to dress up for the occasion. He’s wearing his M42 uniform, complete with field-applied spray painted camouflage. Huff had chosen this field ceremony instead of a more formal one stateside so that his comrades could attend.

1944, Italy — Two American soldiers are awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, by Lieutenant General Mark W Clark (right), for their feats against German soldiers, 1944. — Image by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS

While the 509th PIR would soon jump into Southern France, Huff was sent back to the States. He met with President Roosevelt, and was sent on a war bond tour. He performed several parachute jumps as part of an Army aerial show. He proposed to Betty Cunnyngham when the two were flying in a C-47 from which he jumped as part of one of these shows. He saw 38 states and completed at least two jumps in each one.

The actual medal Paul Huff received from General Clark

Interestingly, Huff most often wore the Medal of Honor given to him in-theater by General Clark. This medal has no inscription on the rear, and had to have the ribbon replaced several times. Huff was presented with a second, inscribed Medal of Honor by President Roosevelt.

The actual medal given to Huff by Pres. Roosevelt

When the war ended, Huff remained in the Army to make it a career. He didn’t see any overseas service during the Korean War. In 1958 he was part of the honor guard for the interment of the Unknowns from World War II and the Korean War. He was the one who handed President Eisenhower the Medal of Honor that was awarded to the Unknown.

Huff standing (to the left) behind Pres. Eisenhower at the Tomb of the Unknowns 1958

Rising the ranks, Huff eventually hit the top. He served as a command sergeant major for the 101st Airborne Division, with which he deployed to Vietnam (and crossed paths with a young Poe) to serve as the CSM for the division’s 1st Brigade. I can only imagine just how intimidating a man like Huff was to the many young men serving under him in Vietnam.

Huff took fire at least once while in Vietnam, as he got a star for his Combat Infantryman Badge. He ended his career as the CSM for the 3rd Army. In addition to his MoH, he held two Legions of Merit, two Bronze Star Medals, and two Air Medals, in addition to many service and campaign medals. His master jump wings had three “mustard stains”, little gold stars that each denote a combat parachute jump.

Interestingly, Huff’s the very rare Medal of Honor recipient to have never been wounded in action, and thus doesn’t have a Purple Heart. the closest he came was on that fateful February in Italy. Despite all the voluminous fire he took from dozens of enemy troops, the closest he came to being hit was when a German grenade detonated between his legs as he descended the hill. It caused only minor powder burns.

After retiring, Huff returned to Cleveland, TN. He died there in 1994 at the age of 76. He was survived by Betty and only daughter Dawn. As of 2010, they were still living.

Huff (left) and other Tennessee WWII Medal of Honor recipients (Charles Coolidge and Raymond Cooley) being driven by Alvin York in a Chattanooga, TN Independence Day parade 1946

As a boy, growing up near where Sergeant Alvin York, WWI Medal of Honor recipient, young Paul Huff idolized the famed soldier. When he too returned to Tennessee a hero with a Medal of Honor the two men became friends, having been a part of a very elite brotherhood. Here’s a photo, circa 1964, where Huff is seen with York.

Paul Huff with Alvin York, sometime in the early 60s

Among Huff’s siblings, he wasn’t the only one to serve the country. His brother Clifford (1920-2000) was a Corporal in the Marine Corps during WWII. His brother Clinton had joined Paul in the Army during the war.

One more picture of Huff before I sign off. Huff is second from right. On the right is the unmistakable visage of the incomparable Colonel Lew Millet. I’ve tried to figure out who the other two men are, to no avail. By the style of the suits, this would seem to be a photo from the late 70s or early 80s. Both men appear to be wearing the blue rosette of the Medal of Honor on their left lapel (as Huff is). If anyone recognizes the other two, I’d be interested in hearing about it.

Category: Army, Historical, Medal of Honor, Valor, Vietnam, We Remember