Whitt Lloyd Moreland

WHITT LLOYD MORELAND (1930 ~ 1951). Medal of Honor Recipient Whitt Lloyd Moreland was born on March 7, 1930, in Waco, Texas, and was raised in Austin. He played football at Junction High School in Junction, Texas, for two years before graduating in 1948.

Moreland joined the Marine Corps in September 1948, at Austin. After a year of service in San Diego and Camp Pendleton, California, he was discharged. Moreland enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve upon his discharge, and was called to active duty on November 30, 1950. He was assigned as a Private First Class and intelligence scout to Company C, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division, and deployed to Korea.

On May 29, 1951, Moreland volunteered to accompany a rifle platoon on an assault on enemy positions located on a hillside near Kwagch'i-Dong. The platoon took the enemy position and Moreland volunteered to lead a group to attack a bunker he observed a short distance away. They moved through heavy fire along a ridgeline toward the bunker, only to come under a grenade attack as they closed in. Moreland rushed to kick several grenades off the ridge, so that they could explode harmlessly downhill from the group. While attempting to kick an additional grenade, Moreland slipped and fell. Moreland shouted a warning to his fellow soldiers and covered the grenade with his body, absorbing the blast and saving the soldiers around him.

For his courageous actions, Moreland was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. His Medal of Honor was presented to his parents in Austin on July 19, 1951. Moreland is buried next to his parents at the Whittington Cemetery, his mother's family cemetery, in Mount Ida, Arkansas.

Bibliography: "Above and Beyond: The Medal of Honor in Texas," Capitol Visitors Center, State Preservation Board of Texas. Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association, University of Texas, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/MM/fmozx.html, April 26, 2006. Whittington Cemetery, Montgomery County, Arkansas, Montgomery Co. ARGenWeb Project, http://www.rootsweb.com/~armontgo/whittington.htm, June 21, 2006. "Who's Who in Marine Corps History," United States Marine Corps History Division, http://hqinet001.hqmc.usmc.mil/HD/Historical/Whos_Who/Moreland_WL.htm, April 26, 2006.