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On 1 July 1985 <em>William Thomas McDaniel</em>, Lieutenant Colonel, Infantry, was awarded, posthumously, the Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry as a prisoner of war, almost 35 years after his heroic action and death on 20 October 1950 in what the Department of Defense has called the Sunchon Railway Tunnel Massacre. It is the highest award given in the Korean War for action as a POW, and Tom is the only West Pointer to receive such an award.</p>
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It is typical of Tom’s record as a combat soldier and leader that the reason recognition was so long in coming is that when he was captured 20 July 1950, he had just led a counterattack to recapture some US 155 mm howitzers, and the Army confused that action—for which he was awarded the Silver Star—with the later request for an award as a POW. Further confusion was caused by the fact that Tom’s service records had to be reconstructed after they were destroyed by a fire in 1973.</p>
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But on 1 July 1985 it all came together as his widow, Helen Jordan Mahone, accepted Tom’s award of the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second highest combat decoration, from Secretary of the Army John O. Marsh, as sons John D. McDaniel and Lieutenant Colonel William T. McDaniel, Jr., USAF, along with fellow POWs William Locke, James Yeager, J.B. Smith and Takeshi Kumagi looked proudly on.</p>
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Kumagi an Army sergeant, who had also acted as an interpreter, was instrumental, along with Tom, Jr., in keeping up the pressure on the Department of the Army to secure the highest possible award for Colonel McDaniel. One fellow POW said of him, “There is no man in the world from my day of birth that I have more respect for. Major McDaniel thought little of his own welfare but pleaded, begged, and prayed day after day for more food for the starving men. He pleaded for medications for the ailing and sick, and if he was awarded a small morsel, such as an apple or a piece of bread, he would give it to the men…”</p>
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J.B. Smith, a lieutenant at the time, remembered how McDaniel helped him to escape but would not join him. “He had several opportunities to participate in successful escapes, but he refused to leave. He was the senior officer, the leader. He had to stay with his men. It was his loyalty and compassion that kept them going.”</p>
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The Distinguished Service Cross citation read at the gravesite in Arlington continued those sentiments. “…By personal example, and with disregard for retribution which followed his efforts, he organized his fellow prisoners toward assisting the wounded and weak, not allowing them to be left behind. Lieutenant Colonel McDaniel inspired the men and restored the will to live and to resist among the soldiers in the column…Lieutenant Colonel McDaniel’s refusal to break under mistreatment by his captors and his inspirational leadership at a time when the North Koreans were intent upon breaking the morale and spirit of their captives, finally led to his execution at the hands of the North Koreans at the Sunchon Railway Tunnel. Lieutenant Colonel McDaniel’s courage and unwavering devotion to duty and his men were in keeping with the most cherished traditions and ideals of military service and reflect great credit on him and the United States Army.”</p>
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There was little hint of Tom’s later steel determination and courage in the early life of the friendly youngster who grew up in Albany, Georgia, graduating from Albany High and going on to the University of Georgia for three years before entering West Point in 1937. But there was an early example of Tom’s compassion—a family story which tells of a time when he gave his coat to a boy in school, a classmate who had no coat and needed one. And then in high school came an indication of his sense of responsibility as Tom won first place in citizenship at Albany High.</p>
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His roommates plebe year knew him as a somewhat “fun loving Rover boy” who had majored in journalism and track at Georgia and who loved to joust with Alabaman John Atkinson about the Auburn-Georgia game that fall. But ever conscientious and active, Tom bore down on the grind of academies, while still allowing time to take part in track and to sing first tenor in the cadet choir for four years, as well as be in the 100th Night Show and the Glee Club. He had a hard time crawling plebes as he remembered how it felt to come from a relaxed Southern atmosphere to “old Hell on the Hudson.” Always the gentleman, Tom endeared himself to all those with whom he ever came in contact.</p>
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In the spring of first class year Tom began dating the lovely Helen Elizabeth Jordan, then living in Bronxville, New York. A year later he convinced her to become his bride in Columbia, South Carolina while Tom was stationed at Fort Jackson in March 1942. Mrs. McDaniel was the daughter of Mr. J.L. Jordan of Smithfield, Virginia and graduated from Peace College in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1941.</p>
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The couple had only a year together when Tom was ordered to duty in the China-Burma-India theatre where he served with distinction as a combat liaison officer to the Chinese in Burma. In addition to receiving the first of his two Combat Infantryman’s badges, Tom was given two decorations, the Bronze Star Medal and the Legion of Merit, for his service in Burma.</p>
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Family life was happily resumed after the war and more joy added with the birth of two sons, William Thomas, Jr. in 1946 and John Douglas a year later. Tom was selected early to attend the Command and General Staff College at Leavenworth, following which he was ordered to an overseas assignment, with the family, to Japan and the 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Division.</p>
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When North Korean forces illegally crossed the 38th parallel and attacked South Korea in June 1950, Tom knew where his place was as an infantry officer—in combat. That same month he joined the 34th Infantry of the 24th Division which was attempting to stem the advance of the North Koreans down the Korean peninsula, and on 20 July was reported missing in action. Official documents and testimony before Congress by escaped soldiers and officers provide a general picture of Tom’s activities from that time until his brutal murder at the Sunchon Tunnel just about three months later.</p>
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During the evacuation of Taejon, Tom as S-3 of the 34th Regiment, was positioned by General William Dean at the tail of the retreating column, with the result that he and his men were overrun and captured. Tom, along with almost 400 other American prisoners of war, was then held in Seoul awaiting movement northward to Pyongyang.</p>
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That march northward, during which Tom was the senior officer, is described in both official and unofficial reports as something similar to the Bataan death march. The North Korean policy was that if men could not keep up with the grueling foot march of 22 to 25 miles a day, they would be shot. To prevent this, Major McDaniel argued and cajoled the guards into giving him ox carts for the men who couldn’t keep up. At one point there were 15 carts in the column, carrying 60 men. But with the scant rations of a few balls of rice a day and virtually no medical support, the men grew weaker, and more and more fell out. It is estimated that only 296 survivors completed the two-week march.</p>
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As stated in the Distinguished Service Cross citation, the end for Tom came on 20 October 1950. On that day he and others were promised their first meal in several days and were told to make up a detail which would go to a nearby village to obtain food. He left but never returned. The remaining POWs were taken outside the railway tunnel near Sunchon where their captors turned machine guns on them. United Nations forces which overran the area later that day discovered the slain Americans. Of the 376 POWs under Major McDaniel’s command, less than 30 survived the entire ordeal which had begun in Seoul.</p>
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To those friends, family, classmates, and comrades who knew Tom McDaniel, his compassionate actions in caring for the sick, wounded, and downtrodden were right in character with his nature and manner. He was a soldier, a leader, and a warm-hearted human being to whom Duty and Honor and Country came as naturally as breathing. We were blessed to have been able to share a portion of his life, and are gratified that now his valor as a prisoner of war has been recorded and remembered by his country.</p>
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<em>—Ben Alvord Spiller, </em>a roommate</p>
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