Hector A. Cafferata
Hector A. Cafferata (1929-2016) was born in New Jersey but moved to Venice, Florida in the 1990s. He earned a Medal of Honor in one of the most storied battles in Marine Corps history, the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir in 1950. When North Korea’s Chinese allies swarmed Marine positions in sub-zero weather, a 21-year-old Cafferata was still in his sleeping bag. With no time to put on his boots and parka, Hector fought in the frozen Chosin in ankle-deep snow in just his socks and a light jacket.
All the other members of his fire team but himself and Marine Kenneth Benson became casualties, creating a gap in the line, and the Chinese threatened penetration through the gap. Making a target of himself, he maneuvered up and down the line, Benson constantly reloading Cafferata’s M-1, and delivered accurate and effective fire against the force, killing 15, wounding many more and forcing the others to withdraw. Said Cafferata: “For the rest of the night I was batting hand grenades away with my entrenching tool while firing my rifle at them. I must have whacked a dozen grenades that night with my tool. And you know what? I was the world's worst baseball player.
Later in the battle, when a hostile grenade landed in front of wounded Marines, Cafferata seized it in his right hand and threw it before it detonated, severing part of one finger and seriously wounding him in the right arm. The battle lasted 5 more hours and Cafferata fought until he was struck by a sniper and forced to evacuate. By the end of the battle, he killed over 100 enemy combatants while developing frostbite in his feet.
He was awarded the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart, Navy Presidential Unit Citation (w/ 1 service star), National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal (w/ 1 service star), Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, and United Nations Korea Medal. But as Hector said “I did my duty. I protected my fellow Marines. They protected me. And I'm prouder of that than the fact that the government decided to give me the Medal of Honor.” In 2014 he appeared on a US Postage stamp celebrating Korean War Medal of Honor recipients. The USS Hector A Cafferata Jr. and Hector A Cafferata Jr Elementary School in Cape Coral both bear his name.
