SCHILT, CHRISTIAN FRANK
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps. Place
and date: Quilali, Nicaragua, 6, 7 and 8 January 1928. Entered service
at: Illinois. Born: 1 March 1895, Richland County, Ill. Other Navy
awards: Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Distinguished
Flying Cross with 1 gold star. Citation: During the progress of
an insurrection at Quilali, Nicaragua, 6, 7, and 8 January 1928,
1st Lt. Schilt, then a member of a marine expedition which had suffered
severe losses in killed and wounded, volunteered under almost impossible
conditions to evacuate the wounded by air and transport a relief
commanding officer to assume charge of a very serious situation.
1st Lt. Schilt bravely undertook this dangerous and important task
and, by taking off a total of 10 times in the rough, rolling street
of a partially burning village, under hostile infantry fire on each
occasion, succeeded in accomplishing his mission, thereby actually
saving 3 lives and bringing supplies and aid to others in desperate
need.
TRUESDELL, DONALD LEROY (Name officially changed to Truesdale )
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps. Place and date:
Vicinity Constancia, near Coco River, northern Nicaragua, 24 April
1932. Entered service at: South Carolina. Born: 8 August 1906, Lugoff,
S.C. Citation: Cpl. Truesdale was second in command of a Guardia
Nacional Patrol in active operations against armed bandit forces
in the vicinity of Constancia, near Coco River, northern Nicaragua,
on 24 April 1932. While the patrol was in formation on the trail
searching for a bandit group with which contact had just previously
been made, a rifle grenade fell from its carrier and struck a rock,
igniting the detonator. Several men close to the grenade at the
time were in danger. Cpl. Truesdale, who was several yards away,
could easily have sought cover and safety for himself. Knowing full
well the grenade would explode within 2 or 3 seconds, he rushed
for the grenade, grasped it in his right hand, and attempted to
throw it away from the patrol. The grenade exploded in his hand,
blowing it off and inflicting serious multiple wounds about his
body. Cpl. Truesdale, in taking the full shock of the explosion
himself, saved the members of the patrol from loss of life or serious
injury.
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Last updated 3 October 2003
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