Donald Leroy Truesdale

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Donald Leroy Truesdale
August 8, 1906(1906-08-08) – September 21, 1993 (aged 87)
  
Chief Warrant Officer Donald Truesdale
Place of birth Lugoff South Carolina
Place of death Lugoff, South Carolina
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Marine Corps
Years of service 1924 – 1946]
Rank Chief Warrant Officer
Battles/wars Occupation of Nicaragua
Awards Medal of Honor
Purple Heart

Donald Leroy Truesdale (08 August 1906–21 September 1993) was a United States Marine Corps Corporal awarded the Medal of Honor for actions during the Occupation of Nicaragua. He attempted to throw away a rifle grenade at the cost of his right hand. He later obtained the rank of Chief Warrant Officer. He was later given a posthumous memorial by the South Carolina General Assembly on 19 May 2004.

[edit] Medal of Honor citation

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.

[edit] See also

United States Marine Corps Portal

[edit] References