Morgan B. Hansel

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to Morgan B. Hansel (0-1825120), First Lieutenant (Infantry), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serving with Company C, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment (Infantry), 1st Cavalry Division. First Lieutenant Hansel distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces near Kunu-ri, Korea, on 3 and 4 November 1950. When his unit was heavily engaged in trying to seize and hold vital high ground, Lieutenant Hansel noticed that the platoon on his right flank was receiving very heavy enemy machine-gun and automatic-weapons fire and was rapidly becoming disorganized. He left his position of relative safety and made his way out to them under a hail of fire to effect their reorganization. Locating the enemy machine-gun and automatic weapons that were firing upon the platoon with such telling effect, Lieutenant Hansel arose to his feet and, with complete disregard for his own personal safety, charged the enemy emplacements single-handed, armed only with his carbine. He succeeded in reaching the hostile positions and killed the machine-gunner, giving almost instant respite to our forces, but in the ensuing, action he was mortally wounded by one of the remaining enemy automatic riflemen. Because of First Lieutenant Hansel’s heroic attack despite the great odds and his gallant sacrifice, the endangered troops were able to complete their reorganization and rout the enemy from their positions.
Headquarters, Eighth U.S. Army, Korea: General Orders No. 397 (June 4, 1951)