Once upon a time there was a man named Benjamin. Born in 1921, all little Benjamin wanted to do was be a soldier and serve his country. So, as soon as he was old enough, he enlisted to serve with the United States Army. Just in time for Pearl Harbour. Unfortunately for Benjamin, he was posted across the road from the base that got attacked and so could not do anything to help. After not being able to serve his country in the way he wanted to, he decided to attend Officer Candidate School in 1942 and emerged a few weeks later as an infantry Second Lieutenant. Eager to prove himself, he immediately requested an assignment, but was turned down. He spent most of the war training other soldiers. The Second World War ended in 1945 and so Benjamin, disappointed that he did not see any action, left the army to work at a lumber mill. Then, the Korean War happened.
In June of 1950, Kim Il-Sung's North Korea invaded the South with 100,000 men, capturing Seoul in three days and storming across the Korean peninsula. In less than three months, half of the South Korean military had been overrun, and the entire South Korean defensive perimeter was reduced to a piece of land less than 5,000 miles across. The United Nations passed a resolution allowing the Member States to send troops to assist, and UN forces made a daring landing at Inchon that started to push Korea back. The North Korean army was defeated, the UN liberated Seoul and the victorious allies pushed the enemy all the way back to the Chinese border.
This seriously displeased the Chinese. And, suddenly, millions of Chinese troops were surging across the Yalu River chucking hand grenades at anything that moved, the UN found themselves completely and massively outnumbered, and the allies were on the retreat.
By June of 1951 the U.S. 31st Infantry Regiment was deployed outside the village of Nodong-ri, along the 38th parallel, part of the last line of defense that was desperately trying to slow the Chinese onslaught and prevent the re-capture of the South Korean capital. Desperate fighting was raging all throughout the sector, as American, Commonwealth, and other UN forces hung on tenaciously, forcing the enemy to buy every inch of land in blood, but things were looking increasingly grim as more and more enemy troops were brought forward into combat.
Ben Wilson was Master Sergeant of Third Battalion, Company I. In his short time since rejoining the army, he'd already worked his way through the ranks from Private to E-8, and, on a warm evening in June 1951, he was ordered to re-take a large commanding hill that overlooked the Hwachon Reservoir outside of Nodong-ri. The terrain feature was affectionately known as "Hell Hill", and, as you can tell by the extremely pleasant name, it wasn't going to be an easy objective to capture. It was steep, the approach was dangerous, and it was heavily fortified by hundreds of North Korean and Chinese troops dug in to formidable defensive entrenchments.
This was the moment Master Sergeant Benjamin Wilson had been waiting for his entire life. The enemy had no idea what was about to happen!
Under covering fire from artillery, machine guns, mortars, and rifles, Master Sergeant Benjamin F. Wilson picked his weapon, let out a huge battle-cry, and ordered the men of I Company to follow him. Charging forward up a steep, muddy incline in the sweltering heat of the Korean summer, Wilson was met immediately by an unrelenting barrage of machine gun and mortar fire that ripped up the scenery around him in every direction. Completely ignoring the imminent death flying around him, Wilson led his men up the hill, lobbing grenades, firing his rifle, and then diving headlong into the first enemy entrenchment. He came face-to-face with four troops carrying full-auto SMGs, quickly killed them, then waved for the rest of his team to come up and reinforce the position.
Then, once everyone was consolidated, he ordered them to fix bayonets. They were not stopping there.
Charging forward with bayonet at the ready, Master Sergeant Ben Wilson and the men of I Company stormed up Hell Hill with the explicit intention of ruining the enemy's day when they arrived at their objective. Heavy fire came in from all directions, but Wilson and his crew stormed ahead, hurled themselves at the enemy, and overran them, leaving nearly thirty Chinese and North Korean troops dead on the field. When the Chinese tried to counter-attack, Wilson single-handedly charged them, rushing forward with rifle and grenades, killing seven more enemy troops, wounding three, and driving off the attack by himself.
But he wasn't done yet.
Wilson once again gathered his men and made a third charge, but as he got within twenty yards of his objective he was hit by shrapnel and bullet fragments, wounding him severely. Wounded and unable to continue, Wilson's men grabbed him and started pulling him back from the fight, but, even though he was seriously wounded, Wilson still lay down covering fire for his troops as they pressed the attack.
When Wilson (who was bleeding profusely and being carried down the hill on a stretcher) heard that I Company's commander and the commander of First Platoon had been incapacitated and the attack was faltering, he did what any self respecting hero would do and climbed out of the stretcher and ran back up the hill to lead the attack himself.
Bleeding, wounded, and exhausted, he grabbed his rifle and ran forward, straight into the most ferocious fighting on the front, shooting at anything that moved, and then waded bayonet-first into enemy forces. Wilson killed three enemy troops in hand-to-hand combat before the North Korean troops swarmed him, grabbed the rifle, and wrenched it from his grip, stripping the wounded Master Sergeant of his only firearm.
So he pulled out his entrenching shovel and went to work, killing four men in the process.
Wilson was wounded a second time during the withdrawal, but still continued to yell orders and provide covering fire while being hauled away on another stretcher.
The Medal of Honor Citation says that "His courageous delaying action enabled his comrades to reorganize and effect an orderly withdrawal," which sounds pretty tame considering what had just taken place. His actions would earn him a Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second-highest award for bravery, and four days later he was nominated for a second one, the first time that had ever happened. A few years later he was awarded a Medal of Honor.Benjamin F. Wilson survived the Korean War and retired as a Major in 1960. He moved to Hawaii, lived into his sixties, and passed away on March 1st, 1988. His bravery and fearlessness just go to show what you can accomplish if you are passionate about something. And let's not forget, he did all of that while wearing glasses!
