Yanggu, and after leaving the field hospital, was assigned a position as a property sergeant. After a week at the new job, he asked to rejoin his buddies in his old infantry platoon, and was allowed to do so. On September 16, 1951, during the Battle of the Punchbowl his company was assaulting Hill 749, where the Korean People's Army had established several entrenched positions. A vicious enemy counter-attack drove back a forward platoon with heavy casualties, and along with two other volunteers from his reserve platoon, he dashed into hand-to-hand combat in the midst of the swarming enemy to give the Marine company time to consolidate its positions. Later, when a call went up for an automatic rifleman to defend an isolated heavy machine gun position on the flank of his company's sector, he again volunteered. With heavy casualties leaving a gap in the Marine lines at the position, he fought a single-handed battle to prevent an enemy breakthrough. Leaping from one side of the position to the other, he kept up a withering fire of over 1,000 rounds in three hours. He made repeated trips through heavy shellfire to replenish his ammunition, manned a machine gun after its gunner fell, and despite enemy penetration to within feet of his position, kept the enemy out of the breach in his company's lines until he was killed by a single gunshot wound in the face. The next morning the Marines counted almost 200 enemy dead in the area. He was originally buried at the United Nations military cemetery in Busan, South Korea. His body was returned to the United States in January 1952 for reburial in St. Mary's Cemetery, Beverly, Massachusetts. The Medal of Honor was presented to his parents on September 7, 1952. Awards and decorations In addition to the Medal of Honor, he received two Purple Hearts for wounds received in action and the following medals. Medal of Honor citation The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously to for service as set forth in the following CITATION: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an Automatic Rifleman in Company F, Second Battalion, First Marines, First Marine Division (Reinforced), in actions against enemy aggressor forces in Korea on 15 and 16