| Birth: | Dec. 23, 1924
Glasgow
Barren County
Kentucky, USA | | Death: | Jun. 7, 2004
Waukegan
Lake County
Illinois, USA | 
World War II Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. Served as a Corporal with the Fourth Marines, Sixth Marine Division, in the Pacific campaign. On April 16, 1945, under Japanese artillery fire, he led his squad up rocky terrain in the battle to capture the 1,200-foot Mount Yaetake in northern Okinawa, an outpost overlooking two important roads. While participating in the breakthrough to the entrenched inner defenses of the mountain, a hand grenade hurled by a Japanese defender landed amid his squad of marines. He unhesitatingly picked up the missile, pulled it to himself and absorbed the exploding charge in his body. All though seriously wounded with several fingers off one hand and loss of sight in one eye he managed to evacuate the remaining other marines to protecting rocks. In a1990 interview, he told The Chicago Tribune, I wasn't out there alone that day on Okinawa, I had marines to my right, marines to my left, marines behind me and marines overhead. I didn't earn this alone. It belongs to them too. Cause of death, heart ailment. (bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith)
Family links:
Parents:
Clarence Bush (1897 - 1966)
Lois O. Wakefield Bush (1899 - 1969)
Search Amazon for Richard Bush | | | Burial:
Ascension Catholic Cemetery
Libertyville
Lake County
Illinois, USA
Plot: Section 7, Block 10, Lot 63
GPS (lat/lon): 42.30741, -87.91936 |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Originally Created by: John "J-Cat" Griffith
Record added: Jun 13, 2004
Find A Grave Memorial# 8911634 |
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