The Forgotten Hero
By Chris Gibbons – Originally published in the December, 2015 edition of Philly Man Magazine
Although it was 20 years ago, Paul Sweeney still remembers that momentous evening well. On July 28, 1995, the Marine Barracks outdoor facility in Washington D.C. was filled to capacity as the attendees patiently waited for the awards ceremony to begin. Dignitaries in the audience included former Marine aviator, astronaut, and United States senator, John Glenn, Jr. A Marine announcer asked for everyone’s attention. The guests quieted.
“Lieutenant Edward Seeburger, center walk”, the announcer said. The Marine Corps band’s drums beat a military cadence and bugles echoed across the barracks. All eyes then shifted to a gray-haired man in his early 70’s, sharply dressed in a navy-blue suit, as he stood and proudly walked towards the center stage with a noticeable limp, the result of an old war injury. Tears filled the eyes of his family members as they watched Seeburger approach the stage where Marine Commandant Charles C. Krulak waited to present the graduate of Philadelphia’s Roman Catholic High School with the prestigious Navy Cross – only one grade below the Congressional Medal of Honor. “It was quite a moment to see”, Seeburger’s son-in-law Paul Sweeney told me recently, but when you consider what Edward Seeburger did during the Korean War’s Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, it is hard to believe that this award was overlooked and nearly forgotten.
On December 2, 1950, First Lieutenant Edward Seeburger, a veteran of WW II, was leading the remains of his Dog Company Unit as they desperately fought their way south to reach the U.S. held Korean town of Hagaru. Of the 220 Marines originally in his Company, only about 20 were still fit to fight as the rest were either dead or wounded. Out of seven officers, only Seeburger remained. The men were not only fighting the enemy soldiers, but the weather as well. The snow impeded their progress in temperatures that plummeted to minus 20.
Seeburger was near the lone tank at the front of the convoy when it was suddenly attacked by well positioned Chinese troops with small arms, automatic weapons, rockets, and mortars. “One minute there was no action, and then there was artillery and mortar fire,” Seeburger said in a 1995 Philadelphia Inquirer article. ”We couldn’t move. Everybody stopped.”
The Marines took cover, but the American tank gunners could not see where the enemy fire was coming from. The convoy was being decimated. Seeburger knew that he had to do something or he, and his men, would die on the frozen Korean hills. He climbed on top of the lead tank so that he could locate the enemy positions, exposing himself to the enemy fire. “Somebody had to give them some direction,” he said in the article. “We were being hit from both sides and the front. I told them to open up with their weaponry to help our men out.”
Seeburger’s direction was working as the tank’s guns began to neutralize the enemy positions. Suddenly a bullet tore into his right knee, knocking him to the ground. The soldiers advised him to go back with the other wounded, but Seeburger refused. The official Navy Cross citation reveals what happened next: “With well-entrenched machine guns defending a roadblock to the front, and with his ranks depleted by eight further casualties, and he himself painfully wounded and unable to walk, he staunchly refused evacuation, and directed his men in an enfilade movement which wiped out the obstruction and enabled the entire column to move forward. By his great personal valor and dauntless perseverance in the face of almost certain death, First Lieutenant Seeburger saved the lives of many Marines…”
For his actions, Seeburger was immediately recommended for the Navy Cross by his Major, James Lawrence. However, unknown to Lawrence, the paperwork was destroyed when a regimental building burned down. Lawrence long assumed Seeburger received the award but was stunned to learn over 40 years later that Seeburger never received it. Lawrence then spoke to Navy officials and his recommendation was approved.
Edward “Bud” Seeburger from the R.C.H.S. Class of 1940 proudly received the Navy Cross that night in 1995, and it also coincided with the formal dedication that day of the new Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. How fitting it was that on the day that the “Forgotten War” was finally recognized, one of its forgotten heroes was finally honored as well. Sweeney told me that Seeburger never really talked about that night in Korea until he received the award. “It couldn’t have been in a better setting,” Seeburger said in a 1995 Philadelphia Daily News article. “It was quite an honor. My daughter and grandkids are able to see me get this award whereas, 45 years ago, they would not have been around for this…it’s amazing to me.”
Seeburger worked as a park police officer, and then later as an engraver for 32 years at Becks Engraving Co. After retiring, he and his wife moved to Ocean City, N.J., and he worked part-time for the Claridge Casino in Atlantic City. He died in 2007 at the age of 85.
Philadelphia’s Roman Catholic High School, founded in 1890, is still thriving today. In one of the classrooms at the historic school are various plaques honoring alumni who distinguished themselves in battle, and one of those plaques bears the remarkable story of Edward Seeburger. They serve as a reminder to the students of the proud legacy of their school, which is the only Philadelphia Archdiocesan high school, and one of the few in the country, whose alumni have served in the Spanish-American War, WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Over 150 alumni have given their lives in these conflicts. On March 8th of this year, several of these veteran alumni were honored during Roman’s 125 Year Anniversary celebratory banquet where the school formally recognized Roman’s “125 Persons of Distinction”. The Seeburger family was there to accept the award on behalf of their father. Roman’s Alumni Association felt that it was important to remember and recognize men like Edward Seeburger, whose actions and achievements are so remarkable that they reveal, not only to fellow alumni, but to the rest of our country as well, those quality characteristics that Roman has always strived to instill in its students.
(Chris Gibbons is a freelance writer and a 1979 graduate of Roman. His recent book, “Soldiers, Space and Stories of Life” is available at Amazon.com – link below)