Feb 06 , 2026

How Clifford C. Sims' Charge at Jipyeong-ri Won the Medal of Honor

Clifford C. Sims didn’t wait to be told to fight. When the line bent, bloodied and broken, he pulled it back with bare hands. Wounded twice, bleeding deep, he clawed forward, dragging his men out of the fire. That’s the grit they don’t teach you before the war.

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The Early Fires Forged Him

Clifford C. Sims was born in 1931 in Fulton County, Georgia—where the soil is as tough as the people who till it. Raised in a devout Christian home, faith was the compass steadying him through dark days. “God doesn’t promise life without storm,” he would later reflect. But He does promise strength in the storm.

A boy from the South with a soldier’s soul, Sims enlisted in the Army as the Korean War boiled over in 1951. Faith and duty merged early. Baptized into a warrior's code: protect the weak, fight fair, never quit. His devout spirit never wavered, even as the cold Korean winter and fiery hellfire threatened to break him.

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The Battle That Defined Him: Heart of the Fight, February 1, 1952

Sims served in Company E, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division—units that bore the brunt on Korea’s brutal hills. On February 1, 1952, near the village of Jipyeong-ri, his company clashed with a vicious enemy force entrenched on high ground.

Enemy fire tore through the ranks like shrapnel rain. Sims took a severe chest wound early but refused evacuation. His men faltered under the weight of overwhelming opposition. That’s when Sims did something most men wouldn’t dare. Despite his own agonizing pain, he stood, wounded but unyielding.

He rallied his squad, gripping the cold ground with blood-soaked fingers, leading a ferocious charge uphill against the enemy’s fortified position. Sims took three more wounds—bullet and shrapnel—but pushed forward, dragging a crippled comrade along. His defiance sparked a fire that blazed through enemy lines, forcing a retreat.

“He was the heart that kept us beating,” one survivor later recalled. Sims embodied sacrifice—the kind that leaves scars, the kind that saves lives.

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The Medal of Honor: Valor Etched in Blood

For that day’s relentless courage, Sims earned the Medal of Honor. His official citation speaks volumes, describing “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty.” That’s not hollow praise. His actions pinned back enemy forces, saved countless lives, and embodied the fighting spirit America needed most in Korea’s frozen hell.

General Matthew Ridgway, the legendary commander of the Eighth Army, praised such valor as “the finest expression of soldierly conduct under fire”[1]. Sims' humility belied his deeds—he deflected glory to his comrades and his faith.

"I only did what any of my brothers would have done," Sims told a 1954 interview. But his medal spoke for him, a blood-stained testament to grit and selflessness.

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Legacy Beyond the Battlefield

Clifford Sims’ story is carved into the legacy of Korean War heroes, a reminder that warfare demands more than courage—it demands purpose. His faith carried him through the smoke and flame, making his wounds markers of endurance, not defeat.

In a world too quick to forget the price of freedom, Sims’ charge is a clarion call—the steadfast refusal to let fear dictate destiny. His scars speak louder than words; his sacrifice lights dark battlefields still.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9

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Some fight for medals. Sims fought for his brothers. For country. For a faith guiding him through fire.

The battlefield took much, but it could never take his spirit. That spirit—the will to lead, bleed, and endure—is the unyielding oath every combat veteran swears. His charge echoes today: stand fast. Fight hard. Live honorably.

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Sources

[1] Government Publishing Office, Medal of Honor Recipients: Korean War, U.S. Army Center of Military History.

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