Our character as Marines is forged by our training, history and adherence to our core values.  From time to time as Marines, we come across situations where taking care of a Marine and adhering to our values takes on a special meaning; this is one of those times...

I was the S4 at the Basic School (TBS) and was tasked with overseeing the dedication of the new Infantry Officer’s Course building (IOC) in honor of a Korean War Medal of Honor recipient 1^st Lt Frank Mitchell.  Up to this point, I didn’t know anything about Lt Mitchell or the process of getting a government building named in honor of a war hero.  I was just informed that Lt Mitchell’s name was selected and I was to take charge of the dedication ceremony; I was handed a file with Lt Mitchell’s picture and the documents authorizing that the Infantry Officer’ building be named in honor of him. 

Being an Infantry officer and having spent my formative years as a Marine at TBS aspiring to be an Infantry Lieutenant, I took a special interest in this assignment and I wanted to know who this Marine was that was getting his name on the newest and most important building at TBS.  As I looked through the file, I found and read his Medal of Honor citation.  It had an impact on me that inspired me to learn more about my fellow Marine; it is an experience that remains with me today and makes me proud to apart of an organization that has likes of a Frank Mitchell.  

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps, Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Near Hansan-ni, Korea, 26 November 1950. Entered service at: Roaring Springs, Tex. Born: 18 August 1921, Indian Gap, Tex. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as leader of a rifle platoon of Company A, in action against enemy aggressor forces. Leading his platoon in point position during a patrol by his company through a thickly wooded and snow-covered area in the vicinity of Hansan-ni, 1st Lt. Mitchell acted immediately when the enemy suddenly opened fire at pointblank range, pinning down his forward elements and inflicting numerous casualties in his ranks. Boldly dashing to the front under blistering fire from automatic weapons and small arms, he seized an automatic rifle from one of the wounded men and effectively trained it against the attackers and, when his ammunition was expended, picked up and hurled grenades with deadly accuracy, at the same time directing and encouraging his men in driving the outnumbering enemy from his position. Maneuvering to set up a defense when the enemy furiously counterattacked to the front and left flank, 1st Lt. Mitchell, despite wounds sustained early in the action, reorganized his platoon under the devastating fire, and spearheaded a fierce hand-to-hand struggle to repulse the onslaught. Asking for volunteers to assist in searching for and evacuating the wounded, he personally led a party of litter bearers through the hostile lines in growing darkness and, although suffering intense pain from multiple wounds, stormed ahead and waged a single-handed battle against the enemy, successfully covering the withdrawal of his men before he was fatally struck down by a burst of small-arms fire. Stouthearted and indomitable in the face of tremendous odds, 1st Lt. Mitchell, by his fortitude, great personal valor and extraordinary heroism, saved the lives of several marines and inflicted heavy casualties among the aggressors. His unyielding courage throughout reflects the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

My first order of business after familiarizing with Lt Mitchell required that I contact HQMC awards branch and asked if there were any family members that I needed to invite to the dedication.   HQMC informed me that they did not locate any and I should just move forward with the dedication.  This surprised me and I started to do some investigating of my own to make sure we were not over looking anything.  I was taking up a lot of time researching things up to this point and I was being pressured by the CO to set a date and move forward.  But having read Mitchell’s citation and background information, I read where his wife was accompanied by Lt Mitchell’s daughter when he awarded his Medal of Honor.  The daughter was around 6 years old.  I thought I was born in 1950; Lt Mitchell’s daughter couldn’t be that much older than me.  I figured she must still be alive even if the Lieutenant’s wife passed on.   I re-contacted HQMC and told them how I felt.  I was told, somewhat sternly, they had done a thorough search and there were NO living relatives.  I was advised to move forward with the dedication.  I briefed my CO with this information and he also told me not to make this a big deal and just do the dedication as directed by HQ.  I stated my feelings about trying to find the daughter, but was rebuffed and told not to make more out of this than there is.  I thought about that and I thought about that…I finally went to the XO.  I told the XO I was having a problem with this order, because I wanted to do more research into whether Lt Mitchell had any family.  I informed him about my feelings on the daughter still possibly being alive and I didn’t feel comfortable with the efforts supposedly done by HQMC.  I told him I didn’t buy the fact this Marine didn’t have a surviving family and if there was anyone, I wanted to make sure they were at the dedication.  I went on to say, Lt Mitchell deserved this and if we really believe in Marines taking care of Marines, than it should go beyond the grave.  WE owed it to Lt Mitchell!  I told the XO I needed more time; we needed to ensure our sense of commitment to this Marine was complete and sincere.  I felt this was the least we or I could do enlight of his sacrifice.  The XO was a Marines’ Marine.  A prior enlisted Marine, a Mustang Officer, no non-sense and direct, he looked me in the eye and said, Bobby, you already got my ass bloodied over this with the CO.  He thinks you are making too big deal out of nothing, but go ahead and take the time you need; I agree with you and I will take care of the CO.  I was on a mission now! 

I went back over Mitchell’s Bio and saw where he was a Texan and born in Indian Gap, Texas.  I had the place where he was born and went to school, I had a start.  I called my brother in New Jersey who was a police officer and asked him if I gave him a name and location how could I find out if there where any relatives of this person still in that area.  He told me to give him what I had.  The next day, he called me back and said, “I thought you had a hard one”?  I asked him what he meant and he said he looked up the police department in that city and called the sheriff and he asked if they had any knowledge of a Lt Frank Mitchell. The response was immediate, “we sure do, we just named a park in honor of him and he is related to the justice of the peace here and he has a sister or two living in California”.  I got one of the sister’s name and location.  I thanked my brother and started calling California.  It didn’t take me long before I was in contact with Lt. Mitchell’s sister.  I told her who I was and what was about to take place and she informed me that Frank has another sister living in California and a DAUGHTER living in Spain working for the NAVY FERDERAL CREDIT UNIION.  I was on a roll…NO LIVING REALTIVES!  I contacted them all and they were all excited about the dedication and the fact the Marine Corps was honoring their brother whose remains, by the way were never recovered.   I sat back in my office and I stared at Lt Mitchell’s photo and Medal of Honor Citation that I had put up on my wall and said, “SEMPER FI, Frank”!

I briefed the XO on what had transpired and we finally set a date for the dedication.  He took care of informing the CO and gave me a big smile.  But I continued to dwell on who else was out there that knew Lt Mitchell now that I found the relatives I was told didn’t exist.  I looked at Mitchell’s bio again and noticed he was in 7^th Marines.  I remembered reading about 7^th Marines in Korea and General Ray Davis a Medal of Honor Recipient and retired four star general.  I researched the history of the 7^th Marines in Korea and realized that then LtCol Ray Davis may have known Lt Mitchell around this time frame, so I decided to call General Davis.

General Davis was retired and living in the Atlanta area.  I got his contact information through Marine Corps channels and placed a call.  I introduced myself and informed the general of the dedication and asked if he ever knew a 1^st Lt Frank Mitchell.  He paused for a moment and when he responded; his comment although simple has stuck with me to this day.  General Davis a Medal of Honor Recipient, highly decorated hero of three wars, a Marine Corps hero in is own right, stated, “Not only did I know Frank Mitchell, he was the bravest man I ever met”.   He told me he would be at the dedication and would be honored to give the opening remarks.  I sat back in my chair and looked at Lt Mitchell’s photo with a better understanding of the meaning of Always Faithful.

You would think at this point things would have been moving along smoothly and without any further glitches…not the case.  I still had to deal with the base historian over the plaque they were going to place inside the building to honor Lt Mitchell.  I didn’t think it was adequate; it didn’t say enough about the Lieutenant.  I remembered Reasoner Hall and the plaque dedicated to Lt Frank Reasoner when I was a Lieutenant going through TBS.  It said something about the Marine and what he did…it meant something when you got done reading it.  The newer buildings going up around the base like Graves Hall, the officer’s BOQ, had plaques that just mentioned the Marines name and “he gallantly gave his life for his country”.   There was nothing said about what the gallantry was; I never liked that and I thought the Marines deserved to have more said about what they did.   I wasn’t going to let that happen to Lt Mitchell.  Lt’s were going to get the same inspiration I got when I read Lt Reasoner’s plaque in the lobby of Reasoner Hall when they walked into the IOC building.  I wanted to make sure Lt Mitchell meant something to the new Lieutenants and did not become another name on a plaque that said gallantly died in Korea.  I also had plans to add a display case with Lt Mitchell’s photo, MH citation and ribbons.  He was a highly decorated Marine and I wanted the new Lieutenants to be able to look at this Marines face and his ribbons and reflect…it was a warrior thing with me.   I had already contacted the Marine Shop in Quantico town and the owner retired Major Harry Elms about framing Lt Mitchell’s official photo and Medal of Honor Citation including a set of his ribbons for a display in the IOC lobby.  I wanted this to accompany any official plaque. I wanted something that would cause you to reflect on the sacrifice of this Marine and hopefully gain some inspiration.

The historian at Quantico was an old retired Marine Major who had been in this position for years.  He did not see the merit in my actions and continually stated that all the plaques on the base had to be uniform.  They will all be the same.  I told him that wasn’t the case at TBS; we already had different plaques, i.e. Lt Reasoner’s.  He just reiterated that was going to be the only one and all future plaques would be the same.  They would all be like Lt Graves in Graves Hall.  I persisted and argued, but was getting no where.  I was dealing with, “dem r da rules” type.  I told him that I was sorry Lt Graves plaque ended up the way it did and there was little I could do to change it.  But I could do something to ensure, Lt Mitchell’s plaque didn’t end up another one of those generic plaques.  We were not communicating on the same level.    

I briefed the XO about how I felt about all this and he just put his head down on his desk and mumbled OK, I’ll get my ass bloodied again for you.  As I left his office, I looked back and saw him smiling.  I moved forwarded with the plaque that I thought should be displayed.  I wanted one that had excerpts from the citation to give more meaning to the “he gave is life gallantly for his country”.  I designed what I thought should be on it and took it back over to the historian.  He once again told me that rules were rules and there wasn’t anything he could do about it.  I was going to get the standard plaque.  I informed him that he could give me whatever plaque he wanted to, but I was going to put the plaque up that I thought was more appropriate and use his plaque to decorate the wall of my office and I walked out.  I already was having another one made up. 

As we moved closer to the dedication things were taking shape and the guest list growing.  Not only were 16 plus members of the Mitchell family showing up, General Davis and the normal commanding officers of units aboard the base, there was one of Lt Mitchell’s Squad leader’s who had been with Lt Mitchell that day in Korea.  He had heard about the dedication through Marine contacts.  We had gone from “there is no one” to all of this and I wasn’t going to let that plaque issue drop now either.  I moved forwarded with the plaque the way I believed it should be.  It wasn’t but a few days before the dedication that I was called into the CO’s office to brief him on everything.  As I was about to leave his office and he called me back and said, “you won”; I asked what he meant and he told me the CG of MCCDEC approved the plaque the way I wanted it.  I have no idea how it got to the CG’s level, but I was later told he was quoted as saying, “give the Marine what he wants”.  SEMPER FI, Frank!

The day before the dedication I picked up the Mitchell family at the airport and got them settled in quarters.  I had been in contact with Lt Mitchell’s sister on a regular basis, but never actually met her.  It was an emotional meeting for all.  I got to meet Lt Mitchell’s two sisters, their families and his daughter.  I felt like I had known them forever and they greeted me like I was part of their family. They were overjoyed and honored that this was being done for their brother.  I couldn’t image having done this without them or having them find out about it years afterwards without ever being contacted by the Marines.  I kept thinking back about how I was initially told there were no relatives and we needed two vans to pick them all up.  The ceremony went off without a hitch and the unveiling of the plaque and the display case in the lobby were greeted with total surprise, acceptance and appreciation; there were a fitting tribute and a sense of commitment to one of our true Marine hero’s. 

To this day, Lt Mitchell’s act of heroism and image stick with me.  I can close my eyes and see him in that photo looking back, I still see the emotion on the families faces as General Davis, wearing his Medal of Honor, said this was the bravest man I ever knew.  I am honored to have played a small part in Lt Mitchell’s life.  I just wanted to do for him what he did and died trying to do to for his Marines…take care of them.  Isn’t this what it’s all about, MARINES taking care of MARINES…Honor, Courage and COMMITMENT?  If you ever get up to the Camp Barrett area of Quantico, stop in the IOC building and look at the plaque and display case dedicated to 1^st Lt Frank Mitchell.  It will inspire you and now you know the rest of the story.

SEMPER FI, FRANK!

In addition to the Medal of Honor, Lieutenant Mitchell was awarded the Silver Star; Bronze Star with Combat "V"; the Purple Heart with a Gold Star in lieu of a second Purple Heart; Presidential Unit Citation with two Bronze Stars; the Good Conduct Medal with one bar; the American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp; the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; the American Campaign Medal; the World War II Victory Medal; the China Service Medal; the Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Stars; and the United Nations Service Medal.