Jennifer Barnhill is a columnist for Navy.com writing about navy households.
Should you had opened Heroic Comics subject quantity 81 in 1953 when it was printed, you’ll have seen an unbelievable true story of bravery as a soldier fought to save lots of the lives of his battle buddies atop “Hill 528.”
The battle befell in Korea, in June 1952, when Cpl. Fred McGee assumed command from his wounded squad chief and held off the enemy so his troops might take Hill 528. Regardless of being shot within the face and leg, he stayed behind to hold wounded troopers to security. His actions earned him the Silver Star and two Purple Hearts.
However one thing concerning the comedian is off. As an alternative of seeing an outline of McGee, a Black man, the cartoon hero meant to embody his acts of valor is white. It was only one signal that gaining recognition for McGee’s place in historical past would not come simply.
Regardless of suggestions from a lot of officers, it will take till after his dying in 2020 for McGee’s actions to be totally acknowledged. Approval to award McGee the Medal of Honor now sits on President Joe Biden’s desk, together with his household attributing a lot of the delay to the way in which the nation handled Black Individuals within the Nineteen Fifties. The household’s fierce advocacy led to the chance for a lot of the general public to listen to McGee’s full story.
The injustice obvious in our failure to acknowledge veterans like McGee highlights the significance of capturing our navy tales. However what side of his story is most worthy of being instructed? Is it the heroism on the battlefield, the next recognition of McGee’s actions regardless of prior injustice, or the advocacy of the navy household who introduced all of it to mild?
“He by no means mentioned the battle,” stated his spouse, Cornell, throughout a 2011 PBS interview. “The one factor I bear in mind him saying was, ‘I do not need my boys to go to battle. My boys won’t ever go to battle.'”
Whereas she wasn’t married to McGee whereas he was on lively responsibility, Cornell was there for the aftermath. “He would get up at evening, arms flailing and hollering,” she recalled.
Though PTSD was frequent amongst those that had skilled battle, it was not one thing that was effectively understood or mentioned in Nineteen Fifties America.
“Although this occurred to my Pap, he all the time confirmed his pleasure & love for his nation,” stated McGee’s granddaughter Brandi Jones, a navy advocate and partner, in an interview with Navy.com. And as was frequent with McGee’s era of troopers, it was a long time earlier than he began to share tales of service together with his household.
“He stated, ‘You understand, I used to be speculated to get the Medal of Honor.’ And we have been like, ‘What! What do you imply you have been speculated to get the Medal of Honor?'” stated Jones. “When individuals who have been Black and brown fought in wars earlier than civil rights, it will have been very tough for them to be acknowledged on the highest degree. As a result of, you recognize, the Medal of Honor. It is the very best degree of honor, and it additionally comes with advantages.”
Advantages and honors that the nation was not but comfy bestowing upon Black troopers.
When the battle ended, McGee was joyful to have been awarded the Silver Star and two Purple Hearts. To him, the story was over, as was his combat. And that tracks. Within the films, the story typically ends when the soldier steps off the battlefield as a result of as soon as they arrive residence and take off the uniform, they’re simply them, people.
However to a navy household, service members should not only a physique to fill a uniform, they’re the one that makes their household complete. We honor their service not as a result of we totally perceive it, however as a result of we search to completely perceive them.
So to McGee’s household, his story was not over. It simply wanted to be rewritten and, in serving to him rewrite it, they turned a part of it.
Jones and her household needed to petition their congressional representatives to take up McGee’s trigger. In 2019, they reached out to Congressman Invoice Johnson of Ohio, who launched a congressional inquiry not lengthy earlier than McGee handed away in 2020. McGee would have been one of many first Black males to obtain the consideration. Even now, the Medal of Honor has been posthumously awarded to solely 94 Black service members.
However McGee’s story didn’t finish together with his passing. As an alternative, Jones and her household put collectively greater than 100 pages of causes to honor her grandfather’s legacy, one thing that was required to show his case as a result of he and lots of of his friends who might have confirmed his story had already died.
Johnson petitioned Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin for evaluation. Whereas Austin acknowledged McGee’s heroism in Korea and agreed in a letter that he ought to be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, as a result of insurance policies governing the medal, the Protection Division couldn’t unilaterally appropriate this fallacious. It wanted congressional approval, which the company obtained in 2022. McGee’s long-awaited honor was finally included within the 2023 Nationwide Protection Authorization Act. And now all that stands between McGee receiving this honor is a presidential signature.
“These are lacking tales, they usually’re really historical past, American historical past,” stated Jones. “I have been sharing the story for in all probability 10 years, wherever I’d go. However in that second, once I noticed that letter, I felt relieved that it wasn’t gonna die with me.”
— Along with her reporting, Jennifer Barnhill can also be the chief working officer and lead researcher for Companions in PROMISE, editor-in-chief of the Nationwide Navy Partner Community Day of Advocacy Steering Committee, and the navy partner liaison on The League of Wives Memorial Challenge.
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