James E. Robinson Jr., WWII Leyte Medal of Honor Recipient

Dec 30 , 2025

James E. Robinson Jr., WWII Leyte Medal of Honor Recipient

James E. Robinson Jr. lay wounded in the mud, bullets raining over the decimated ridge. His squad pinned down by relentless fire. But he wasn’t finished. Not yet. With a grimace tight enough to crack stone, Robinson rose—despite a shattered arm and broken ribs—and charged forward. His voice cut through the chaos, calling men up, rallying broken spirits. He was that raw edge between defeat and survival.

The Ground He Walked

Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, James Robinson grew up tough, proud of simple values hammered home by his parents—faith, honor, and grit. The son of a preacher, his belief was a shield woven from Proverbs and Psalms, a steady pulse beneath the rising storm of global war.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” — Philippians 4:13

That verse was more than ink on paper. It was armor when the world turned to ash.

The Battle That Defined Him

October 29, 1944. Leyte, Philippines. The 2nd Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division faced a brutal Japanese counterattack. Enemy machine guns dug into the hill like iron traps. The Americans took heavy casualties. Confusion spread.

Robinson was a Staff Sergeant then, and when his platoon faltered, he grabbed the reins. Alone, armed with only a carbine, he led multiple frontal assaults under withering enemy fire. He silenced machine gun nests by himself—first one, then another—dragging each position into submission.

Wounded in the arm and chest, refusal to fall back was his damnation and his salvation. His men saw it. He carried them forward, inch by bloody inch.

His actions saved the hill, secured a critical position for the advancing forces. “We owe everything to that man,” one survivor later recalled.

Recognition Earned in Blood

For his valor, Robinson received the Medal of Honor. A citation that reads less like words, more like a brutal ledger of sacrifice:

“Staff Sergeant Robinson’s indomitable courage and heroic leadership were decisive in the success of the mission… He personally caused the destruction of multiple enemy machine gun positions despite being wounded.”[1]

General Douglas MacArthur would later commend the 25th Division, noting the extraordinary gallantry in that campaign. Robinson’s name etched itself into the annals of heroism not by ceremony but by the scars left on hills soaked in sacrifice.

Legacy Written in Scars and Faith

Robinson returned home a changed man. The war behind him, but the battle within never truly ceased. Yet, the creed he lived by endured: courage under fire, faith in purpose, and service beyond self.

His story is not just one of fearless assault—it is the scripture of sacrifice, the cost of liberty paid in broken bodies and unfaltering spirit.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — John 15:13

It is easy to forget, in the comfort of quiet nights, what men like Robinson faced. The weight they bore, not for glory, but for the lives of brothers they would never leave behind.

Facing the Quiet After the Storm

The legacy of James E. Robinson Jr. is not a tale wrapped in medals and speeches. It is living proof that heroism is raw, relentless, and redemptive. It’s in the man who stands up when the rifle cracks behind him—wounded, breath ragged—but still moves forward for the sake of the fallen and the future.

Every scar tells a story. Every prayer, a promise.

Remember him—not as distant history, but as the man who knew the hell of war and chose redemption. Because when the smoke clears, all that remains is the blood-stained truth of courage that never quits.

Sources

[1] U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients: World War II [2] Steven Ambrose, Lincoln and Lee: The Prairie Years and the War Years (reference for 25th Infantry actions) [3] Official Military Personnel File, James E. Robinson Jr., National Archives