OBITUARIES : Jake W. Lindsey; ‘One-Man Army’ in 2 Wars

WAYNESBORO, Miss. — The Medal of Honor winner whom Harry S. Truman envied even more than his own presidency has died of a heart attack at the age of 67.

Jake W. Lindsey, nicknamed the “One-Man Army” for his World War II and Korean War exploits, died Monday at his home here. For his actions in those two conflicts he was awarded 16 medals and was the 100th U.S. infantryman to receive the nation’s highest military honor.

When he was presented that award before a joint session of Congress in 1945, President Truman was said to have whispered to him: “I’d rather have the Congressional Medal of Honor than be the President of the United States.”

Lindsey was a 24-year-old technical sergeant in 1944 and was part of a platoon that had been reduced to six men from 40 in four days of fighting in the Huertgen Forest near Hamich, Germany.

The platoon captured its objective but faced an enemy counterattack.

Although wounded in the knee, Lindsey resisted a German infantry company backed by five tanks. He killed at least 20 Germans, knocked out one of the tanks and then, after running out of ammunition, used his bayonet in hand-to-hand combat.

“His unerringly accurate fire destroyed two enemy machine-gun nests, forced the withdrawal of two tanks and effectively halted the enemy flanking patrol,” according to his citation, read by Gen. George C. Marshall.

During the Korean War, Lindsey was responsible for killing 150 Chinese in a single night, said Ron Busby, a specialist for the First National Reserve of Beaumont, Tex., which is producing a movie on Lindsey, “Call of Duty.”

After retiring as a staff sergeant in 1963, Lindsey spent 10 years with the U.S. Forest Service.