In one of Lieutenant Lee’s boldest acts, on the night of Nov. 2, 1950, he conducted a solo reconnaissance mission in heavy snow, moving well ahead of his unit to fire rounds and throw grenades with the goal of exposing the location of Chinese soldiers who had attacked his unit while reinforcing North Korean troops.
At one point, he called out in Mandarin in an attempt to confuse the enemy. He was wounded, but the tactic worked, allowing his unit to reposition and drive back the Chinese. Awarded the Navy Cross, the second-highest honor a Marine can receive, he was cited for “extraordinary heroism.”