Early this year (2020), on January 15th, a humble, dignified, and remarkable 90-year-old man quietly passed away, in total obscurity with zero fanfare, within a small nursing home tucked away on a back street in the small, quaint town of Kenwood, California. Because his obituary never appeared anywhere in the press, this frail but proud veteran of the Korean War may have appeared to some as a forgotten man who fought in what has become known as the forgotten war.
His name was Theodore H. Chenoweth, better known as just Ted by those who knew him. He was born in Chicago during the early years of the Great Depression. Sometime during the 1930s, his family relocated to Hobart, Indiana, which is a small town just outside of Gary, Indiana, where Ted spent his youth. After excelling in high school, an Navy ROTC college scholarship during the late 1940s got him to UC Berkeley. Except for a few years he spent overseas serving in the military, Ted lived most of his adult life in the San Francisco Bay area. Eventually, he settled in the California Wine Country. For the past two decades, Ted was my friend and one of my heroes. More importantly, he was both a fellow Freemason and fellow United States Marine. Without question, he was also a true gentleman. Just before the Memorial Day holiday this year only a few months after his death, I was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of urgency that it was only fitting and proper that I do my best to pay tribute to his memory. The words that you are reading reflect the content of a human-interest story that I originally wrote to remember Ted's legacy. It first ran on the front page of my local newspaper, the Sonoma Index-Tribune on May 26th, the day after Memorial Day.
Many of Ted's friends and neighbors were aware that he had served in the Marines. However, many would be surprised to learn that he was among the most decorated living Korean War veterans in our country at the time of his death. Many of the people who knew him had no idea that Ted was an actual living hero within their midst. Without question, he was what the Marines call, the "Real Deal" and here is his story.
During the winter and spring of 1953, First Lieutenant Ted Chenoweth was a platoon leader with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, which fought against the Chinese in what became known as "the Outpost Wars" during the last few months of the Korean War.
During the night of March 26th, 1953, the 26th and 27th Red Chinese Field Armies near the Panmunjom Peace Corridor attacked the "Nevada Cities," a group of three hilltop outposts held by Marines from the 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. Although the hills had local Korean names, they were aptly renamed Vegas, Carson, and Reno by the American military.
The Chinese attack was a final and desperate attempt to better the position of China and North Korea in the peace talks, which were occurring at the time, and to gain more territory for North Korea when the borders between the north and south would be solidified.
Sometime after midnight, the Chinese overran two of three Marine-held hilltop outposts with an overwhelming force (Vegas and Reno were overrun); Vegas was the most strategically important outpost because it was located on the highest hill which supported the other two outposts. In rapid retaliation, a head-on Marine assault was made to retake outpost Vegas with three rifle companies of the 5th Marine Regiment taking heavy casualties.
Ted's Fox Company (the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment had been held in reserve) was then committed to the fight, and he was given the mission to counterattack and retake outpost Vegas.
Twenty-four bloody hours later, outpost Vegas was back in the hands of the Marine Corps.
During the counterattack, Ted skillfully led his platoon through unfamiliar terrain and along mine-infested routes under cover of darkness with a minimum of casualties. Although severely wounded during an intense barrage of enemy mortar and artillery fire, he refused medical treatment and effectively directed the aid and evacuation of his stricken comrades.
After assuming control of an adjacent platoon when its leader was critically wounded at a time when both platoons were pinned down by the devastating hostile fire, he resumed his place at the head of the assaulting force and single-handedly charged the enemy position. Inspired by his remarkable display of courage, the men of his unit followed him and engaged the enemy in bitter hand-to-hand fighting in the trenches, succeeding in routing the hostile Chinese force.
Quickly establishing a hasty defense, Ted skillfully consolidated the newly-won area and, despite his weakened condition, continued to direct the vital operations from a prone position, assuring himself that all other wounded were cared for before submitting to medical treatment for his wounds.
During the counterattack, Fox Company suffered an appalling 62 percent casualty rate. The 3rd Platoon, commanded by Ted, suffered an even more horrific 82 percent casualty rate. Out of a platoon of 44 men, only eight made it unscathed plus four "walking wounded." Ted was one of those "walking wounded." For his wounds, he received the Purple Heart. For his gallantry, he was awarded the Navy Cross, our country's second-highest decoration for valor.
To further validate how uncommon valor was a common virtue among Ted's hard-charging Marines during the counterattack, William R. Charette, the Navy hospital corpsmen attached to Ted's 3rd Platoon, received the Medal of Honor for his gallantry under extreme conditions while saving the lives of many wounded Marines during the heat of battle. Among the five enlisted sailors who were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Korean War (all were Navy hospital corpsmen attached to the Marine Corps), Charette was the only living recipient of the medal.
The battle for outpost Vegas and the surrounding outposts were considered the bloodiest fighting to date in western Korea during the Korean War. It was estimated that there were over 1,000 American casualties and twice that number of Chinese casualties during the battle. From a historical context, it was the Marine Corps version of the more well-known nearby Battle of Pork Chop Hill, which was fought just one month later under very similar circumstances by several infantry regiments of the U.S. Army.
The heroic soldiers at the Battle of Pork Chop Hill were forever immortalized in popular culture with a best-selling book and a popular Hollywood movie, "Pork Chop Hill" from 1959, starring the actor Gregory Peck. Unfortunately, the equally heroic Marines who took back outpost Vegas were not.
By the time Ted recuperated from his wounds at the Navy hospital in Kyoto, Japan the Korean War was over. The Armistice was signed on July 27th, 1953 (which happens to be the day I was born).
When Ted returned home in 1955 from serving on active duty in Japan, he entered graduate school in geological studies at the University of California, Berkeley, his 1951 alma mater before joining the Marines. Following graduate school, he spent his career working in research and administration for UC Berkeley. He started as Manager of Research and had overall responsibility for the business concerns of the inorganic materials research division of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory. This was the first laboratory to be incorporated into the Atomic Energy Commission following the Second World War. Ted eventually retired in 1979 as Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs for the university. Ted also remained in the Marine Corps Reserve, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1974.
Ted was the proud father of two adult daughters. His wife Lynda (who in December 2018, preceded him in death) was an anthropologist and an archaeologist from UC Berkeley. They shared a passion for life-long learning and were both extremely well-read. Together, they worked for archaeological excavations in Greece, Italy, and other countries. They briefly lived in both France and Italy and traveled together throughout the world. Although he had once dreamed of becoming a naval aviator before becoming a Marine infantry officer, Ted finally fulfilled his early love for flying by getting his private pilot's license.
After he retired from UC Berkeley, Ted and Lynda moved to the Sonoma Valley and made their home within the Sonoma Greens planned community at the intersection of Arnold Drive and Boyes Boulevard near the Sonoma Golf Club. In appreciation for his many years of service on the home-owners association board, particularly for chairing the Grounds Committee multiple times, there is a picturesque wooden bridge dedicated to Ted's memory on a paved walking trail which encircles the lake within the Sonoma Greens community.
Throughout the remainder of his life, Ted was a popular speaker at both small and large patriotic events and observances. He also received numerous awards of recognition and appreciation from the Republic of Korea, various Korean-American organizations, and an abundance of Marine Corps veteran groups. For many years, he was also a member of the Marines' Memorial Association in San Francisco and the Redwood Empire Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA).
In 1964 he became a Freemason and was raised as a 3rd Degree Master Mason on June 24th, 1965, at Berkeley Lodge No. 363. He was a proud Freemason for 54 years and was a member of Temple Lodge No. 14 of Free and Accepted Masons in Sonoma at the time of his death.
For a Marine combat veteran who had experienced the horror of war up close and personal at the most brutal level imaginable, he was surprisingly kind, gentle, thoughtful, and caring. In other words, a true gentleman. That said, I believe the following immortal words of inspiration written by the academic historian and author John Walter Wayland may best encapsulate how Ted Chenoweth lived his life:
"The true gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from goodwill and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others, rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe."
Right now, both our country and our world could use more friends, heroes, Marines, and true gentlemen like Ted Chenoweth. He is greatly missed.
Semper Fi.
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About the Author
Robert K. Leonard is a former Captain, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. He served on active duty during the late 1970s with the 3rd Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Brigade, Fleet Marine Force at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.