...Korean War veteran and Medal of Honor winner Duane Dewey is still around 60 years after diving onto a grenade to save comrades.
On April 16, 1952, during the Korean War, Dewey was lying on the ground just south of the village of Panmunjom, situated in the middle of the Korean peninsula, when a grenade landed right next to him. Not seeing any way to get the grenade away from the other Marines around him, he tucked it under himself to shield them from the blast.
"Hit the dirt, doc!" he told the medic attending to his wound, caused by another grenade that had gone off near his feet just before the next, almost fatal grenade had found its way to him.
The second grenade exploded right under him, wounding him so badly that he didn't even notice he had been shot in the stomach until he got to a field hospital.
President Eisenhower gave Dewey the Medal of Honor for his actions on March 12, 1953, the first time Eisenhower had ever awarded the medal. Dewey is one of only 80 living Medal of Honor recipients, and he's one of 11 living recipients who earned it during the Korean War.
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