Biography

Sergeant Donn F. Porter is inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame for extraordinary courage and gallantry in action as a Ranger qualified leader.

Sergeant Porter was the only Airborne Ranger to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor during the Korean War. He trained with the second 9th Ranger Infantry Company (Airborne) from May through September 1951 and was awarded the Ranger Tab on graduation. When the Airborne Ranger companies were disbanded as cease fire negotiations started in Korea, Sergeant Porter and 24 other 9th Company Rangers volunteered for duty in Korea and were assigned to the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team (ARCT). At that time, the 187th was in strategic reserve on Kyushu Island, in southern Japan, so Sergeant Porter volunteered for combat duty on line in Korea and was assigned to Company G, 14th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division.

He was soon promoted to Sergeant and placed in charge of a combat outpost in the vicinity of Mundung-ni and "Heartbreak Ridge" at a key approach into the main line. An enemy force estimated at 400 men probed the position with artillery and mortar for several hours. In the first main assault, Sergeant Porter's group of four men expended 4-6 cases of grenades that were on position, killed 15 enemy soldiers and wounded many more. Two of Porter's men were killed. In the second assault, Sergeant Porter jumped from his position with bayonet fixed and meeting the onslaught in close combat, killed six hostile soldiers and routed the attack. When his body was found, he still clutched his rifle with the fixed bayonet rammed into the body of a North Korean soldier. His supreme sacrifice has set the example for all who wear the Ranger Tab on into the future. The Porter Range at Fort Benning has been named in his honor.