West Jax Rotary

Wright Hollingsworth
Salute to a Special Local Veteran

On November 26th, Jacksonville resident C. Wright Hollingsworth will be awarded the BRONZE STAR medal with the combat “V” for courageous and heroic action in leading his platoon of Marines against the enemy in a fierce battle on the afternoon of the 25th of September 1950…yes, 58 years ago!

Why did it take so long to recognize Lieutenant Hollingsworth’s valiant bravery?

This is quite a wonderful story and tells us much about our country on a number of levels, but especially about our citizen soldiers; be they past, present or future. Not only what they individually did, but how they participated in major events which markedly changed history.

Also, this is a story about the special bonds which are formed and the mutual respect of fellow participants in mortal combat, where the real character of each individual is so completely exposed.

The setting for this story is the unstable world following World War II in which ideologies like Communism were being used to forcibly expand the Soviet Union and Chinese influence over their neighboring countries. In June of 1950, the North Korean Peoples Army, assisted by the Soviet Union and China, invaded the southern part of the Korean peninsular with over 70,000 armed troops to positions well south of the capital city of Seoul.

At that time, our American armed forces had been reduced in size and operational readiness as a part of the “peace dividend” following the end of hostilities of World War II. As a consequence, the UN Commander, U.S. Army General Douglas MacArthur, was confronted with developing a war plan to stop and defeat a much larger implaced military force with a smaller one. This effort would be a major event changing the outcome of history in Asia, and indeed the world.

The bold plan developed was to conduct a surprise amphibious landing behind enemy lines to cut off supply to the larger enemy forces, and also to take control of the large capital city of Seoul. The secret plan was named Operation Chromite. The selected invasion site was the very heavily defended port of Inchon, which also had many natural impediments, including an exceptional daily tidal range of 34 feet!

The amphibious landing commenced early morning on September 21st 1950.

Lieutenant Hollingsworth led his rifle platoon of 50 Marines ashore at Inchon’s Blue Beach and began the advance inland toward Seoul as apart of Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines of the First Marine Division.

On September 25th, Lt. Hollingsworth’s platoon was directed to attack and then control the town of Yong Dong Po on the Han river just west of Seoul. The North Korean troops defending the town were forced to take a desperate stand against the
Marines as they were backed up against the Han River.

A fierce battle ensued with heavy machinegun fire from entrenched enemy troops. Lieutenant Hollingsworth bravely exposed himself to enemy fire while leading his platoon to identify and attack the enemy positions. During this intense firefight in the streets of the town, Lieutenant Hollingsworth was hit and severely wounded in his leg. Although critically wounded and bleeding, he self-medicated with a morphine injection and continued directing his platoon to enemy positions, while also directing the recovery of his fellow injured Marines until he finally collapsed and lost consciousness.

At this point, fellow Lieutenant Marvin Gardner took command of the platoon and ordered Marine Leon Davis to take the unconscious and bleeding Lieutenant Hollingsworth back to the battle aid station some distance to the rear.

Because of the severity of his wounds and the necessary pain medications, Lieutenant Hollingsworth had only very vague recollections of emergency treatment and being flown to Japan and then to California, where he spent months in hospitals for operations to reconstruct the severely shattered leg. After a year in hospitals he was sent to Naval Air Station, Jacksonville for physical therapy where he was promoted to Captain and was eventually retired as a disabled warrior to civilian life.

As a result of Lieutenant Hollingsworth’s leadership, bravery and sacrifices while successfully leading his platoon in Operation Chromite, he contributed to a major historical event which resulted in protecting South Korea from a Communist takeover and changed the course of history in Asia.

Because Wright Hollingsworth is such an unassuming and selfless gentleman and because of the confusion and oversights in the “fog of war” combat operations, his heroic acts on 25 September 1950 were not recognized until fellow Marines discovered 50 years later that he had survived his critical combat injuries and was still alive.

It was then that the officer who took over his platoon and the young Marine who dragged him to the battle station took on the task of gaining recognition for the great leadership, the bravery and the sacrifices Lieutenant Hollingsworth made on that day in Korea 58 years ago.

Now retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel Marvin D. Gardner, who was there and took over the platoon when Wright was injured, took on a tireless three year campaign to have Wright Hollingsworth’s heroic performance finally recognized with the award of the Bronze Star medal with combat “V” which will be presented at Wright’s Rotary Club meeting Wednesday, 26 November 2008.

Wright Hollingsworth is a great American and hero. Prior to his demonstrated bravery as a Marine officer, he was an accomplished athlete, having played varsity basketball at Duke University and was competing successfully to be a member of the US Olympic decathlon team.

Subsequent to his service in the Marine Corps, Wright married Marjorie Joyner and together they raised four children. Wright earned a Masters Degree from FSU in Psychiatric Social Work and had a long and successful career in Florida Health and Human Services. He has been an active participant in community services, including 39 years in Rotary where he held a number of positions including President.

The Bronze Star medal is to be presented to Wright Hollingsworth at his Rotary luncheon meeting at the Commonwealth Holiday Inn on Wednesday, 26 November 2008.

Notes
The meeting was called to order by President Mike Crumpler, followed by the Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance.

Wally Barrs introduced our Policeman of the Quarter, Det. Jeremy Reynolds, detective Reynolds’ mother, and his supervisor, Lt. Steve Mullen. Det. Reynolds was recognized for his successful work with the Crime Free Housing Unit and JSO SWAT Team.

Past President Tommy Platt announced the nominees for the slate of new officers, who were approved for nomination by voice vote. The vote will occur 30 days later.

Officers:
President - John Runion
Pres-elect - Frank Scheu
Treasurer - Marshall Butler
Secretary - John McCorvey
Sgt-at-Arms - Nina Sasser
Past President - Mike Crumpler

Avenue Directors:
Club Administration - Jerry Spinks (1 year remaining)
Public Relations - Dan Dodd (1 year remaining)
Club Membership - Jimmy Kelly (2 year term)
Service Projects - Joe Springer (2 year term)
Rotary Foundation - Preston Keyes (2 year term)

Frank Scheu introduced new member Hugh Blanton, who’s a lawyer and farmer.

Will Croft made a pitch for the Adopt-a-Highway pickup on November 22nd at 0800, Ham Cooke reminded everybody about cooking at Sulzbacher on the same date and Stewart Green announced that we still had slots for Bell Ringers next month. President Mike also mentioned the dove shoot scheduled for November 29; the Toys for Tots donation for our Christmas Party at 6pm, Dec. 11 at FYC (no meeting Dec. 10), and to sign up for the special meeting next week. He then announced this week’s birthdays.

The duty roster is now online. If you ever need to see when it is your turn to greet, pray, pledge or test, look for this list. It is online in the calendar section.

Chris Bergey introduced the speaker topic for this week and then turned it over to President Mike to introduce guest speakers RADM Byron Fuller, USN (ret) and Col. Carl Crumpler, USAF (ret.), both former Vietnam POWs. Both of these heroes gave moving presentations from a rapt audience.

Rotary Guests
Bill Byrns — Orange Park
Buck Autrey — Downtown
Ed Witt — Downtown
Tim Strong — Oceanside
Ken Wilson — Southside

Visitors
Kathy Scanlon — Guest of Harry Roddenberry
Sheree Ellingson — Guest of Paul Broome
David Dunston — Guest of Mike Crumpler

Birthdays
November 20 — Doug Myers
November 24 — Mike Tanner

Next Week - December 3, 2008
Greeters - Tom Crabtree, Ed Pratt-Dannals
Invocation - Scott Imray
Pledge - Jeff Ludwig
Four-Way Test - Dale Crisp
Speaker - Bob Simpson, Senior Director, Cecil Field, Jacksonville Aviation Authority

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