10/22/2025
This is one of those 11th Airborne Division stories that deserves to be told and retold over and over again, to remember the courage and sacrifice of a great American...
On October 21, 1950 (D+1) for our Angels of the 187th Regimental Combat Team, 3/187 departed Sukch’on at 0900 and began heading south towards P’yongyang in a reconnaissance-in-force.
At 1300, Company I reached a narrow valley just outside Op’a-ri where an estimated battalion of NKA troops opened up with 120-mm mortars and 40-mm “Pom-Pom” anti-aircraft guns.
For more than two hours the Angels gave as good as they got, but two of the company’s platoons were overrun and I Company was forced to withdraw with ninety men missing. The remaining Angels regrouped on Hill 281 just west of the railroad and breathed sighs (and prayers) of relief that the North Koreans failed to press the advantage and withdrew themselves.
The Company was able to find survivors from the two separated platoons and regroup. But not everyone made it.
Several Angels fell the initial attack, and medic PFC Richard G. Wilson rushed to their aid, moving among the wounded to give both treatment and encouragement. All the while, the enemy soldiers kept up their heavy rate of fire, but survivors noted that Richard was unconcerned with his own welfare, only their own.
But their WAS concern that the enemy would surround and isolate, perhaps even destroy, the Angels, which is why I Company was told to fight their way out and withdraw. PFC Wilson labored to help many of the wounded men to safety and made sure no one was left behind. But after reaching a place of relative safety, news came that one of the fallen Angels, whom the others had assumed was dead, was seen moving.
PFC Wilson (some reports say he was the one who noticed the crawling casualty) immediately chose to go back to the scene of the ambush, despite the emphatic protests of his fellow Angels. They watched the unarmed Wilson calmly return to the hillside to seek out his wounded his comrade even as enemy fire continued to rake the area.
Neither Angel returned.
Two days later, on October 23, 1950, another patrol found PFC Wilson’s body, lying beside the very man that Richard had gone back to aid. The Angels noted that the selfless medic had been shot several times while trying to give aid to the other trooper, using his own body to shield his wounded comrade.
Richard’s friend SFC James Hardin of Laurel Hill, North Carolina, had witnessed all of the medic’s actions during the attack, noting, “All during the fire fight he continued...acts of bravery, repeatedly exposing himself to assist others...”
James said they found the fallen Richard clutching a morphine syrette in his hand. With his last breath, PFC Wilson had been trying to ease the pain of his fellow Angel. He was 19.
In a ceremony at the Pentagon on August 2, 1951, Richard's Medal of Honor was presented by GEN Omar N. Bradley, chairman to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to Wilson’s young widow, Yvonne, who Richard married on August 29, 1950, tens days after his birthday and just three days before his deploying to Korea.
Richard’s citation says it all: “Private Wilson’s superb personal bravery, consummate courage, and willing self-sacrifice for his comrades reflect untold glory upon himself and uphold the esteemed traditions of the military service."
-Text taken from the soon-to-be-released book DOWN FROM HEAVEN VOLUME 3 - THE 11TH AIRBORNE DIVISION IN KOREA - coming in 2026
Down From Heaven Comes Eleven! Airborne All the Way!
-JCH
