page_title: John E. Kilmer
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: John E. Kilmer / Biography
caption_attribution_description: 330-PS-5038 (USN 708859): Texas Hero Presented Posthumous Medal of Honor. During a ceremony at the Pentagon, the Secretary of the Navy Robert B. Anderson, left, presented the Medal of Honor posthumously to Hospitalman John E. Kilmer. The hero’s mother , Mrs. Lois B. Kilmer, center, accepted the medal of her son. Another son, Staff Sargent Robert Kilmer, USMC, right accompanied his mother. Photograph released July 8, 1953. (4/28/2015).
context_page_description: John Edward Kilmer was a United States Navy hospitalman who was killed in action during the Battle of Bunker Hill while attached to a Marine Corps rifle company in the Korean War. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism above and beyond the call of duty on August 13, 1952.
context_section_description: Kilmer was born in Highland Park, Illinois. He quit high school at seventeen to enlist in the U.S. Navy on August 16, 1947 from Houston, Texas. He enlisted as an Apprentice Seaman, and after his recruit training, he attended Hospital Corps School, San Diego, California. After graduation in April 1948, he advanced in rate (rank) to hospital apprentice, and then hospitalman on September 1, 1950.
  Kilmer was assigned to the hospital ship USS Repose when the Korean War began in June 1950. When his 4-year enlistment term expired in August 1951, he reenlisted in the Navy. In April 1952, after running afoul of a superior, Kilmer chose to volunteer to serve as a corpsman with a  Fleet Marine Force (FMF) unit. After completing instruction for combat field training in June at the Field Medical Service School at Camp Pendleton, California, he was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.
  In Korea, Kilmer was a member of H Company, 3rd Battalion, 7 Marines. On August 12-13, 1952, he took part in the attack on Bunker Hill in Korea. He attended to the wounded during the battle and was wounded, then was mortally wounded after using his body to protect a wounded Marine from enemy fire. For his actions on August 13, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
  On June 18, 1953, Hospitalman Kilmer's mother, Lois Kilmer, was presented with her son's Medal of Honor by Secretary of the Navy Robert Bernard Anderson.
  Kilmer is buried in San Jose Burial Park, San Antonio, Texas.
  On 16 October 2019, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer announced that it will name a new Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer in his honor –  the USS John E. Kilmer (DDG-134).
caption: Medal of Honor presentation to the family of John E. Kilmer
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