Edward R. Schowalter Jr. Earned the Medal of Honor in Korea

Dec 15 , 2025

Edward R. Schowalter Jr. Earned the Medal of Honor in Korea

He was bleeding out. Every nerve screamed to fall back, to give in—to die. But Edward R. Schowalter Jr. gritted his teeth, shoved his shattered body forward, and led a handful of men against an enemy force multiplying by the hour. Wounded, outnumbered, damned if he wouldn't stand. This was more than battle. It was blood and faith intertwined.

The Roots of Steel

Born 1927 in Houston, Texas, Schowalter's tough grit was forged long before Korea's frozen hills swallowed him whole. Raised in a household where honor wasn't a word but a lifestyle, his faith in God shaped his character as much as the Texas heat shaped his skin.

He carried the same steady resolve from enlisted Marine beginnings through his West Point education. The warrior's code and Christian discipline, inseparable. “I can't do anything without the Lord's guidance,” he once said. Not just a cliché—his compass in the chaos.

The Battle That Defined Him

January 31, 1951, near Kumsong—cold that sank to the bone, enemy forces thrashing with an overwhelming punch. Schowalter, serving as captain in the 3rd Infantry Division, faced death in its most grotesque form.

His command post came under intense mortar and small-arms fire. When enemy troops launched a desperate assault, he didn’t just stand—he stormed forward. Twice wounded in the head and arm, blood streaming, he refused evacuation. Instead, Schowalter rallied his squad against a tide of Chinese forces.

"Despite wounds, Capt. Schowalter moved from position to position urging his men to hold firm," states his Medal of Honor citation.[1]

He personally killed or wounded an enemy threatening his men. When ammunition vanished, he scavenged fresh clips under fire, each motion a silent prayer, each breath a defiance of death itself.

For hours, he kept the line—isolated and bleeding but unbroken—

“His leadership and bravery stopped the enemy cold, preventing a breakthrough that could have destroyed his entire battalion,” the citation reads.[1]

Recognition in Blood and Steel

The Medal of Honor came not as glory but as testament to indomitable will. Presented on October 12, 1951, Schowalter’s decoration captured a truth too many overlook: courage isn’t the absence of fear, but mastery over it.

Generals praised his steadiness. Fellow soldiers, some barely older than boys, called him a rock in hell’s furnace.

Brigadier General John H. Church said:

“No one else would have stood that day. No one else had his heart.”

The Silver Star and other decorations pinned beside his chest are markers of what happens when faith and duty collide on the ragged edge of survival.

Legacy Etched in Blood and Purpose

Schowalter’s story is carved into the granite of combat truth: sacrifice is never neat. The scars—visible and invisible—tell a story of a man folding his pain into purpose.

He fought not just for victory, but to shield the men who looked to him in total darkness.

His life is a call to the broken and the brave alike: stand in the storm, because your stand might hold the line for others.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” —2 Timothy 4:7

He lived that scripture with every breath and every drop of blood spilled that day. Schowalter didn’t seek honor. He answered a higher call.

In a world quick to forget the cost of freedom, Edward R. Schowalter Jr.’s legacy demands remembrance. Not as a fading footnote, but as a raging ember of courage—a relentless blaze that says: your sacrifice matters. Your stand matters.

We owe them no less than to carry their fight in our hearts.

Sources

1. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients: Korean War, Ed Schowalter Jr. Citation. 2. James H. Kitfield, Warrior King: The Leadership of Edward R. Schowalter Jr (Army Historical Press).