HONOLULU, May 29 (UPI) -- After nearly 50 years, retired Master Sgt. Clarence Young will be awarded a Silver Star at a Memorial Day ceremony in Honolulu.
U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka is scheduled Monday to pin the medal on 79-year-old Young, who had been held for 30 months in four North Korean prison camps during the Korean War.
Arsanio Vendiola wrote to Akaka in February 2004 recommending Young be honored for trying to save his platoon in 1951, reported the Honolulu Star-Bulletin Sunday.
Young served as a platoon sergeant assigned to Company G, 2nd Battalion, and was ordered to cover the withdrawal of portions of the 24th Infantry Division from Chongpyong.
He fired a .50-caliber machine gun at the approaching enemy, but ran out of ammunition. Young gathered about a dozen members of his platoon, ran across rice paddies and took refuge in a deserted house, but was found and imprisoned by the enemy the next day.
