Dec 22 , 2025
Captain Edward R. Schowalter Jr. Korean War Medal of Honor Recipient
Blood dripping off his hands. The roar of mortars overhead. Men falling all around him. And still, Captain Edward R. Schowalter Jr. stood upright—ignoring the searing pain, the mounting wounds, and the fury of the enemy pressing in like death itself. This was no act of bravado. It was the raw, unrelenting heart of a warrior battling not just foes but his own breaking body to hold a line that, if lost, meant devastation.
Roots in Resolve
Born in 1927, Edward R. Schowalter Jr. carried the steady grit of a man forged in the crucible of Great Depression America. Raised with straight talk and hard work, his moral compass pointed true north. The values learned in small-town life—duty, honor, sacrifice—became the backbone of his military bearing.
A devout Christian, Schowalter's faith was quiet but ironclad, a silent fuel beneath the thunder of war. "Blessed are the peacemakers," he often cited, not as a soft platitude but as a call to relentless stewardship of what peace cost on the battlefield[1]. The Good Book was his anchor amid chaos—reminder that purpose extended beyond survival.
The Battle That Defined Him
February 5, 1951. Near Hoengsong, Korea.
By then, Captain Schowalter commanded Company A, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. North Korean and Chinese forces launched a ruthless assault, waves of enemy soldiers crashing against the thin American line. The orders were simple: hold at all costs.
What followed defies ordinary explanation.
Amid intense artillery and small arms fire, Schowalter twice braved exposed terrain to rally his scattered men—once crawling through shell-cratered earth despite shrapnel wounds to both legs[2]. He refused medical aid, conspicuously wounded yet persistently directing defense, his voice booming orders above the pandemonium.
Enemy troops launched repeated frontal and flanking attacks. Schowalter organized counterattacks, leading with his unloaded rifle to shake his men back into fighting line. Shot through the hand, bleeding profusely, he fashioned a makeshift splint and kept moving forward.
A grenade tossed near his position turned the air to fire—Schowalter grabbed the device and hurled it back moments before detonation, saving men nearby. Amid the roar of battle and pressure mounting, he steeled himself and ordered a stubborn, flawless defense, preventing a total rout.
His company held. The defense, against overwhelming numbers and relentless fury, was a testament to iron will and refusal to yield.
Recognition Etched in Valor
For his singular heroism, Captain Schowalter received the Medal of Honor on October 12, 1951. The citation detailed his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty," highlighting his unwavering leadership despite severe wounds[3].
General William C. Westmoreland, a combat commander known for his exacting standards, called Schowalter "a soldier’s soldier"—a man who inspired courage not by words alone but by enduring presence[4].
Comrades remembered him as a "walking wall" that no enemy could breach. One private recounted, "When Ed was around, you believed you could outlast anything... he made us believe in ourselves even when we were scraping courage from the dirt."
The Soldier’s Legacy: Blood, Faith, and Endurance
Edward Schowalter’s story is not just a tale of battlefield gallantry. It is a fierce declaration of purpose, a manifesto of sacrifice under fire inflected with faith’s quiet strength.
He showed that courage and leadership aren’t instincts born only in heroes but forged through relentless choice—choosing to stand when everything screams to fall. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil," (Psalm 23:4) was more than scripture; it was lived truth.
His scars were physical and spiritual. Yet he carried them not as badges but as markers of redemption—proof that the cost of peace demands blood and unwavering heartbeats.
In honoring Captain Edward R. Schowalter Jr., we confront the raw cost of freedom—reminded that every medal has a story etched in pain and faith. Warriors like him ask us: What lines are we willing to hold? What causes demand that we push beyond our limits?
The legacy he left is not the laurels on a chest but the unbroken line of faith and valor that carries forward. We remember not just the battles won, but the souls forged amid the storm—resolute, unyielding, and forever bound by the sacred oath to defend.
Sources
[1] U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients: Korean War
[2] U.S. Army, Medal of Honor Citation: Edward R. Schowalter Jr. (1951)
[3] Department of Defense Archives, Korean War Medal of Honor Citation Records
[4] Westmoreland, William C., A Soldier Reports (1959)
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