Clifford C. Sims' Medal of Honor for One-Man Charge at Chosin

Dec 30 , 2025

Clifford C. Sims' Medal of Honor for One-Man Charge at Chosin

Clifford C. Sims took the hill bleeding and broken. Bullets ripped through the air. Men around him faltered. But he surged forward—wounded, stubborn, relentless. He refused to let his unit die where they stood.

A Soldier Molded by Conviction

Born in 1929 in Valley View, Texas, Sims was a product of tough southern soil and tougher morals. Raised in a household where church Sundays were gospel, the military felt less like a choice, more like a calling. As a devout Christian, he carried the weight of Romans 8:37 — "in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

This wasn’t about glory. It was about something harder: honor. Duty. Protecting brothers in arms even if it cost him every scar he bore.

The Hill Called Back

In late November 1950, during the brutal Korean War’s Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, PFC Sims found himself in the jaws of hell. The 1st Marine Division and Army units were encircled by Chinese forces—the cold seeping into bones as fiercely as enemy fire.

Sims served with Company L, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. Amid a desperate defense, the enemy’s counterattacks threatened to overrun their position. When the unit’s offensive momentum flagged, Sims made a choice that would etch his name into history.

Despite sustaining severe wounds—shattered foot bone and multiple gunshot strikes—he led a one-man charge uphill against a numerically superior enemy force. His grenade assault and relentless rifle fire turned the tide long enough for his unit to regroup and reestablish defensive lines.

He refused medical aid until all his men were secure.

Medal of Honor: A Testament Written in Blood

On November 25, 1950, President Harry S. Truman awarded Clifford C. Sims the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry. The official citation reads in part:

"PFC Sims, by his outstanding leadership and indomitable fighting spirit, halted the enemy advance and saved the lives of numerous comrades at extreme risk to his own life."

His commanding officer, Colonel Harold J. Stewart, later described Sims as:

"A soldier who fought with the heart of a lion and the soul of a servant."

Sims' grit was not born out of bravado but a sacred duty to his fellow soldiers. He once said, “I didn’t think about fear. I thought about the man beside me.”

The Enduring Lesson of Clifford Sims

The scars on his body faded, but the mark he left on the legacy of American valor endures. His actions illuminate the raw truth of combat—there is no heroism without sacrifice, no victory without pain. Sims was a living testament to love forged in the crucible of war.

In a world quick to forget the cost of freedom, Sims’ story reminds us all:

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." — John 15:13

He fought not for medals but to live the highest calling a man could answer—to protect, to sacrifice, to lead with honor. His blood waters the ground on which we stand free.

Remember Clifford C. Sims. Remember what it means to be a soldier.