Conrad Helps Secure Medal of Honor for ND Vet

 

Dear Friend, I am pleased to report that the President has approved our request to honor Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson Keeble, of Wahpeton, North Dakota, with the Medal of Honor. The story of Master Sgt. Keeble is one of bravery and honor. He served in two wars and is one of the most decorated soldiers in North Dakota history. He won his first Bronze Star and the first of his four Purple Hearts during the Second World War, when he was wounded in an attempt to rescue his comrades on Guadalcanal in 1942. He returned to service at age 34 in the Korean War. On Oct. 20, 1951 he single-handedly took out four machine gun bunkers and two trenches of enemy troops. During the assault he was hit multiple times, but he continued to fight and finally forced an enemy retreat. Master Sgt. Keeble's comrades twice recommended him for the Medal of Honor for his bravery in Korea, but lost paperwork meant the recommendations were never considered. Master Sgt. Keeble was instead awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army's second-highest commendation. Last year, nearly 60 years since his heroism, the Secretary of the Army concluded that Master Sgt. Keeble deserves the Medal of Honor. A statutory limitation on the time allowed to pass between events warranting Medal of Honor recognition and the actual awarding of the medal threatened to hold things up forever. But working with a bipartisan group, including Sens. Byron Dorgan, Tim Johnson and John Thune, we passed legislation that waived the time limitation for Master Sgt. Keeble's Medal of Honor. With the Secretary of the Army's recommendation and passage of our legislation, it was up to the Secretary of Defense and the President, as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, to make the final decision. At our urging, they too recognized the heroism of Woodrow Wilson Keeble, finally granting Master Sgt. Keeble the Medal of Honor he earned so long ago. President Bush will present the award to Keeble's surviving family members at a White House ceremony on Monday, March 3. Please join me in saluting Master Sgt. Keeble, a North Dakota hero.   Sincerely, KENT CONRAD United States Senate You have received this e-mail because you have signed up for Veteran Affairs Issue Updates. If you do not want to receive future updates, you can remove yourself from this mailing list by visiting my Web page at http://conrad.senate.gov/issues/signup.cfm. Please feel free to forward this e-mail to others who you think would be interested in this information. If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you would like to sign up to receive future updates directly from me, please visit my Web page at http://conrad.senate.gov/issues/signup.cfm.