Richard Keith Sorenson (August 28, 1924 – October 9, 2004) was a United States Marine who, as a private, received the Medal of Honor during World War II for his heroism during the Marine landing on Kwajalein Atoll on the night of February 1–2, 1944. He threw himself on a Japanese grenade that was part of US munitions captured during the Battle of Bataan, to save the lives of five fellow Marines. Although fragments of the grenade ripped through his thighs, hips, right arm and right leg, he survived the action. Of the 27 Marines who similarly threw themselves on grenades to save the lives of their fellow Marines during World War II, Sorenson was one of only four who lived. Fellow Medal of Honor recipients Richard E. Bush, Jacklyn H. Lucas and Carlton R. Rouh were the other three survivors.
After recovering from the wounds, Sorenson continued to serve in the Marine Corps until he was discharged in 1946 at the rank of sergeant. He enlisted in the Reserves in 1947. He reached the rank of master sergeant, received a commission as a Marine Corps officer in 1953 and remained in the Corps until 1955.
Biography
The son of a U.S. Navy World War I veteran, Sorenson was born in Anoka, Minnesota. He graduated from high school in 1942.
World War II
Sorenson enlisted in the Marine Corps on December 13, 1942. He reported to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California in January 1943 for recruit training. In April 1943, he joined Company M, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marines, at Camp Pendleton, where he underwent intensive training before sailing for Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands on January 11, 1944.
Sorenson landed with his battalion at Namur, Kwajalein, on February 1, 1944. On that first day of the invasion, he was wounded in action, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. After a fierce night of battle, a Japanese soldier threw a grenade in the midst of his squad. Sorenson threw himself on the grenade and took the explosion's full force. A corpsman tied off a severed artery and covered the severe wounds, and Sorenson was evacuated to a transport to Hawaii. He underwent six surgeries in the next nine months.
Sorenson was hospitalized at Pearl Harbor until May, then transferred to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Seattle, Washington. In mid-1944, he was informed that he would receive the Medal of Honor by the commanding officer of the hospital, Captain Joel Boone, who received the same honor during World War I. On July 19, 1944, a month after being promoted to private first class, Sorenson was presented the Medal of Honor by Major General Joseph C. Fegan, then commanding the Department of the Pacific.
Released from the hospital later in July, Sorenson was ordered to the Marine Air Detachment at the Naval Air Station, Minneapolis, where he was promoted to corporal that August. The next month he was assigned to the headquarters of the Central Recruiting Division in Chicago and promoted to sergeant. He was transferred from Chicago to the Midwestern Recruiting Division in St. Louis in September 1945, and while attached to that division, served at the Marine Corps Recruiting Station in Fargo, North Dakota. From there he was ordered to Great Lakes, Illinois, where he was discharged on February 23, 1946.
Civilian life; return to the Marine Corps
Back in civilian life, Sorenson worked as a contact representative for the Veterans Administration in Minneapolis and Alexandria, Minnesota. He also attended St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, and enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve on July 10, 1947. He was ordered back to extended active duty on November 17, 1950, and for the next three years, was stationed at the Marine Corps Recruiting Station in Minneapolis. There, he was promoted to staff sergeant in May 1951, and to Master Sergeant in June 1953. In November 1953, following his appointment as a second lieutenant, he was ordered to the Marine Corps Schools at Quantico, Virginia, where he completed the Basic School for Marine officers in April 1954.
Sorenson then served as Assistant Supply Officer of the 7th Engineer Battalion at Camp Pendleton, where he was appointed a first lieutenant in September 1954. He was transferred to the 2nd Replacement Battalion at Camp Pendleton in January 1955, and that March was ordered overseas for duty with the 3rd Engineer Battalion, 3rd Marine Division. With that unit he served in Japan and on Okinawa before returning to the United States that November to be discharged after voluntarily reverting to the rank of Master Sergeant.