William Richard Charette (March 29, 1932 – March 18, 2012) was a United States Navy master chief hospital corpsman who received the nation's highest military decoration for valor, the Medal of Honor. He was awarded the medal for heroic actions "above and beyond the call of duty" on March 27, 1953, while assigned to a Marine Corps rifle company during the Korean War. He retired from the Navy after 26 years of service. Early life Charette was born on March 29, 1932, in Ludington, Michigan. Both of his parents died when he was four and he was raised by his uncle. He graduated from high school in Ludington, in 1951. He then took a job on a Lake Michigan ferry boat which led him to join the Navy. U.S. Navy career Early career Charette enlisted in the U.S. Navy on January 11, 1951, during the Korean War (1950–1953) and underwent recruit training at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois. He then attended the Hospital Corps School at Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, Maryland, becoming a Hospital Corpsman upon graduation. Afterwards, he was assigned to duty at the Naval Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina. On April 16, 1952, he was promoted to hospital corpsman third class. Korea He volunteered to serve in Korea with the Fleet Marine Force (FMF) as a hospital corpsman attached to a Marine Corps unit, and on November 25, 1952, he reported for duty at the Field Medical Service School, Camp Pendleton, California, for field training. After completing the course and graduating as a FMF corpsman, he was assigned to 3rd Platoon, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, which embarked for South Korea on February 5, 1953. Medal of Honor action On the night of March 26, 1953, Chinese soldiers in North Korea attacked, and on March 27, overran two of three Marine hill outposts in North Korea manned by Marines and corpsmen from the 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, named Vegas, Carson, and Reno (Vegas and Reno were overrun); Vegas was considered to be the most important outpost and the highest outpost that supported the other two outposts. Late morning that day, a head-on Marine assault was made to try and retake Vegas with the three rifle companies of the 5th Marines taking heavy casualties. Fox Company, 2/7 Marines (2nd Battalion, 7th Marines were held in reserve) were then committed to the fight