Medal of Honor recipient Lewis Millett dies at age 88
Medal of Honor recipient Lewis Millett of Idyllwild died Saturday morning at Jerry L. Pettis Memorial VA Medical Center in Loma Linda. He was 88.
“He had a brief hospitalization. He came in the day before Veterans Day,” said hospital spokeswoman Annie Tuttle.
According to his Medal of Honor Citation, then-Capt. Millett distinguished himself “above and beyond the call of duty in action” in Korea, after he and his men came under heavy enemy fire on Feb. 7, 1951.
He ordered and led a bayonet counterattack up the hill, killing enemy soldiers in hand-to-hand assault during which he was wounded by a grenade blast. But by early afternoon, his company had taken the hill.
He was presented the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman in July 1951.