On September 1, 1950, MSG Ernie Kouma, Company A, 72nd Tank Battalion, was ordered to hold a portion of the Nakdong River line. The North Koreans were crossing the Nakdong River in force and overran the American defenses, destroying two tanks, but MSG Kouma kept fighting. When everyone else withdrew because the North Korean attack was too fierce, he and his tank crew stayed and held the line. He fought all night and most of the next day with his single M4 Sherman tank. As his ammunition ran low and the enemy surrounded his tank, MSG Kouma jumped from the armored turret, coming under hostile fire, and reached the .50-caliber machine gun mounted on the rear deck of his M4 Sherman tank. He fired point-blank into the North Koreans until his .50-caliber was out of ammunition. He killed North Koreans, but more kept coming. With his machine gun out of ammunition, he threw grenades and then drew his .45-caliber pistol, killing the remaining North Koreans who tried to climb up onto his tank. MSG Kouma held up an entire North Korean regiment for a day, and he and his crew killed about 250 of the enemy, blunting the enemy attack and holding the line. If the North Koreans had broken through that day—if Ernie Kouma had thought only of himself and run away—the Pusan Perimeter might have collapsed, and the history of the world would have been different today. He didn’t, and that made all the difference. For his actions on that day, MSG Kouma was awarded the Medal of Honor.
By comparison to what that crew did, I might as well have been a civilian despite wearing the Army uniform for a little while. I stand in awe.
Man, would that make a great movie. But unless the crew gunned down civilians and torched a village, I suppose it is one that won't be made by our current industry. There are more stories at the linked article.
