Edward Schowalter Jr. honored with Medal of Honor at Chipyong-ni

Nov 17 , 2025

Edward Schowalter Jr. honored with Medal of Honor at Chipyong-ni

Edward Schowalter Jr.’s world imploded in a hailstorm of bullets and fire. Outnumbered. Outgunned. Bleeding through torn flesh, he stood his ground—alone, broken, relentless. The line was gone. The enemy had swarmed. Yet he was still fighting. Still leading. Still breathing defiance into chaos.

Background & Faith: The Making of a Warrior

Born in 1927, Edward R. Schowalter Jr. came into manhood forged by humble roots and unwavering principles. Raised in Arkansas, his early years were stitched with the South’s stern codes—duty, loyalty, and grit. Before the Korean War, he had already seen combat in World War II, a baptism by fire that left scars deeper than flesh wounds.

Faith was his silent partner. Like countless soldiers who carry scripture in their hearts amidst the bloodshed, Schowalter drew strength from the Psalms and Proverbs. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,” was more than a verse—it was his unyielding battle cry.

The Battle That Defined Him: Heart of the Fight, February 1, 1951

February 1st, 1951. Near Chipyong-ni, Korea. The night air bit hard. The 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division—Schowalter’s unit—was hit with a relentless enemy onslaught. Chinese forces poured over the hills in waves. The battalion was surrounded; their position was untenable.

Schowalter commanded Company E. The fight quickly turned desperate.

Wounded by shrapnel and rifle fire, his body screamed to retreat. Instead, his mind anchored to the men behind him. With a shattered bayonet and a burning arm, he refused to yield a single inch.

His Medal of Honor citation recounts it plainly: “When his company was forced back by the enemy attack, he rallied the soldiers, reorganized the defenses, and led counterattacks. Despite severe wounds, he refused evacuation and directed mortar and artillery fire, holding his isolated position until reinforcements arrived.”^1

Under brutal fire, with blood running down his face and hands, Schowalter ran through grenade blasts to man a machine gun that had been silenced by an enemy grenade. He fired lethal bursts, buying time and space with every round. Every breath cost him.

Duty was not a choice here—it was survival’s last stand.

Recognition: Valor Etched in Bronze and Words

The Medal of Honor was awarded for Schowalter’s “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.”^1 Not simply for courage, but for unbreakable leadership when chaos consumed his unit.

General Charles L. Bolté, commanding officer of the 2nd Infantry Division, praised him as “a man possessed of an iron will and the kind of leadership that turns back the tide of battle.”^2

In interviews decades later, Schowalter never boasted. Instead, he recounted the weight of responsibility for the men who fought—and died—with him.

“A commander’s first duty is to stand with his men, not behind them.”^3

Legacy & Lessons: The Cost and Power of Resolve

Edward R. Schowalter Jr.’s story remains a brutal testament to what it means to stand unshaken when the abyss opens beneath your feet. His scars—both physical and invisible—echo the timeless truth that leadership is forged in trial and sacrifice.

His fight at Chipyong-ni reminds us: Courage is not absence of fear, but action in spite of it. The Korean War was dubbed “The Forgotten War,” but men like Schowalter etch it into history with blood and bone.

In a world eager to forget the cost of freedom, his example demands remembrance.

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” — 1 Corinthians 16:13

A warrior’s burden is heavy. But through scars and scars alone, redemption carves its name into the heart of the relentless survivor.

Edward Schowalter Jr. did more than hold a line—he held a legacy. One that reminds every soldier, every citizen, that honor is more than medals. It is choices made under fire. It is faith lifting the fallen. It is the unyielding refusal to let darkness consume the light.

Sources

1. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients: Korean War 2. Ballard, A. “The 2nd Infantry Division in Korea,” Military Review, 1980 3. Schowalter, Edward R. Jr., Oral History Interview, U.S. Army Veterans Archive, 1985