Marne man gets Silver Star 57 years later
Dingee and Hooker were badly injured. Johnson rigged two belts together and dragged Dingee to safety. He also had helped Hooker away from the front lines, as well as a handful of other soldiers, before finding a weapon and returning to the battle alone.
“That was the last time I saw Charlie alive,” an emotional Dingee said Saturday, before pausing.
That’s how Don Dingee remembered the June night on a shell-pocked hill in Korea back in 1953 – the night he was rescued by Charlie Johnson. That’s what Dingee told the assembled students at Arlington High School in Poughkeepsie, NY when the high school dedicated Johnson Hall and it’s Wall of Remembrance which features the names of 31 Arlington graduates who gave their lives in service to the country.
Central to the ceremony was Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Phillips and Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Ashmen, who presented the Silver Star to Charlie’s brothers and sisters.
The General and Sergeant Major traveled from Fort Stewart, GA, the home of the 3rd Infantry Division (nicknamed the Marne Division for their actions in WWI). Charlie was a member of the famed 15th Infantry Regiment of the 3d ID, an honor that Audie Murphy and I share with perpetually young Charlie Johnson.
Category: War Stories
I was with the 3rd ID in ’91 before the 1/69 Armor was deactivated. Kitzingen was a nice place. When I was down at Ft. Stewart before Kosovo, I was amazed that so few of the Marne soldiers knew what “Marne” stood for: My Ass Reaming Never Ends. Rock Of The Marne!
I dunno if this sort of story pisses me off (for the delay) or pleases me that some recognition was finally given?
Either way, thanks.
I was with the 3rd ID way before you guys, Kitzingen was nice, as was Schweinfurt and Aschaffenburg, Wurzburg not so much. Rock of the Marne, indeed. Good that Charlie Johnson finally got the recognition due him, sad that it took so long.
i was with 4/64 3rd id in 1975 aschaffenburg also
A recognition long over due, Semper Fi.