JOHN EDWARD KILMER (1930 ~ 1952). Medal of Honor Recipient John E. Kilmer was born in Highland Park, Illinois, on August 15, 1930, and lived for a period of time in San Antonio, Texas. In 1947, Kilmer quit high school to join the Navy in Houston. He entered the Hospital Corps School in San Diego, California, as an Apprentice Seaman.
After graduating in 1948, Kilmer became a Hospital Apprentice, and was then promoted to Hospitalman on September 1, 1950. When the Korean War began Kilmer was stationed on the U.S.S. Repose. In August 1951, he reenlisted in the Navy, hoping to put his medical expertise to good use in the war. Kilmer asked for transfer to the Fleet Marine Force after a dispute with a superior officer, the subject of which is not known. He joined the Third Battalion, Seventh Marines after completing the Field Medical School at Camp Pendleton, California. Kilmer was deployed to Korea with that unit.
On August 12, 1952, Kilmer's unit was pinned down under heavy mortar fire while dug into defensive positions well ahead of the main line of resistance. Kilmer moved from position to position in the defense works through artillery, mortar, and sniper fire, administered aid to the wounded, and oversaw their evacuation. He was wounded by shrapnel from an exploding mortar round while en route to aid another wounded soldier, but continued on. Kilmer slowly inched his way to the Marine, but once he began to treat the soldier's wounds, another heavy barrage of mortar fire began. The two men were unprotected from the explosions, and Kilmer unhesitatingly shielded the wounded man from shrapnel with his own body. Kilmer was mortally wounded during the shelling, but thanks to his heroic self sacrifice, the wounded man lived.
Kilmer was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions. The medal was presented to his mother, Lois Kilmer, on June 18, 1953, by Secretary of the Navy Robert B. Anderson. Kilmer is buried in San Jose Burial Park in San Antonio, Texas. According to an article in the San Antonio Express-News on May 21, 1989, Kilmer was the only San Antonio resident to receive the Medal of Honor for service in Korea. The Navy Inn at Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Millington, Tennessee, was named Kilmer Hall in his honor in January 2003.
Bibliography: "Above and Beyond: The Medal of Honor in Texas," Capitol Visitors Center, State Preservation Board of Texas. The Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association, University of Texas, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/KK/fkimb.html, April 26, 2006. "John Edward Kilmer," Pride of Place, National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, http://bethesda.med.navy.mil/visitor/Pride_of_Place/POP_Committee/MOH/Kilmer, April 26, 2006. "Navy Inns building is named for Hospital Corpsman John E. Kilmer, Korean War hero," Bluejacket News, Naval Support Activity Mid-South, http://www.nsamidsouth.navy.mil/publications/bluejacket/2003/bj030123.htm#stories5, April 26, 2006.
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