THE AWARD AND A HUG

On January 17, 1951, at Oakland, California, Marine Sergeant Jack Macy received two awards for bravery. For rescuing three wounded men while under fire in Korea, he received the nation’s second highest military award: the Distinguished Service Cross. Another award, which was not scheduled in the ceremony, was a bear hug of gratitude and comradeship from one of the men Macy rescued, Private Aubrey Wilson of St. Joseph, Missouri, who happened to be in the hospital audience.

On August 8, 1950, Sergeant Macy’s platoon fell back in bitter fighting. He noticed three men were missing. Back he went to the battlefield, where under fire he dressed their wounds and carried them to safety. With bullets striking his canteen and his helmet, Macy carried Wilson on his shoulder for 600 yards. Wilson recognized his rescuer. In his joy and gratitude, he gave Macy a hug after the hero received the Distinguished Service award.

[Reproduced with permission from Encylopedia of 15,000 Illustrations, by Paul Lee Tan, Communications, Inc., Dallas, TX, 1998, #10,632]

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