BALDOMERO LOPEZ

'Baldomero Lopez' (August 23, 1925—September 15, 1950) was a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for smothering a hand grenade with his own body during the Inchon Landing, on September 15 1950.
Baldomero Lopez was born in Tampa Bay, Florida. He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy, and upon graduating June 6, 1947, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps.
He attended The Basic School at Quantico, Virginia, after which he became a platoon commander in the Platoon Leaders Class Training Regiment.
In 1948, 2dLt Lopez went to China, where he served as a mortar section commander and later as a rifle platoon commander at Tsingtao and Shanghai. On his return from China he was assigned to Camp Pendleton, California.
He was serving there when, shortly after the outbreak of the Korean war, he volunteered for duty as an infantry officer in Korea. He was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant on June 16, 1950.
Lopez was forever immortalized in a picture of him leading his men over the seawall at Inchon shortly before his death.
News of his heroic death spread quickly among fellow Marines on the battlefronts. A Scripps-Howard war correspondent, Jerry Thorp, said in a news story on 1stLt Lopez's deed that he "died with the courage that makes men great."
In addition to the Medal of Honor, 1stLt Lopez's decorations include the Purple Heart Medal, Presidential Unit Citation with one bronze star, China Service Medal, and Korean Service Medal with two bronze stars.

Contents

Honors/Legacy

See also

References

External links

Honors/Legacy

★ 1st Lt. Baldomero Lopez (T-AK-3010) is one of the Military Sealift Command's seventeen Container & Roll-on/Roll-off Ships and is part of the 36 ships in the Prepositioning Program it is assigned to Maritime Prepositioning Program Squadron Two under the operational control of MSC Far East and operates out of Diego Garcia.

★ A room in Bancroft Hall, the Naval Academy dormitory, is dedicated to him, with a display including his photo and a bronze plaque of his Medal of Honor citation. (Room 4353)

★ The Korean War memorial under construction in Tampa, Florida will be opened on November 11 2007 and dedicated to 1st Lt Lopez.^[1]

See also

★ List of Hispanic Medal of Honor recipients

References

1.

External links

★ www.HomeofHeroes.com

★ Who's who in Marine Corps History

★ Navsource