News Releases for May 2008
May 07, 2008
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Hoeven Announces Woodrow Wilson Keeble To Receive North Dakota Rough Rider Award
BISMARCK, N.D. - Governor John Hoeven today announced that the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award will be presented to Master Sgt. Woodrow “Woody” Wilson Keeble, Medal of Honor recipient and one of North Dakota’s most decorated soldiers. The award is presented to individuals who have achieved national recognition, reflecting credit and honor upon North Dakota and its citizens. Keeble is the 36th North Dakotan to receive the award.
“Woody Keeble twice answered the call of his nation, fighting in two wars, and serving with dedication, selflessness, and the courage to continually risk his life for his fellow soldiers,” said Hoeven. “His receiving the Medal of Honor was long overdue. Master Sgt. Keeble is truly symbolic of all of our military servicemen and servicewomen, and our veterans.”
In a White House ceremony March 3, 2008, President Bush formally presented the Medal of Honor posthumously to Master Sgt. Keeble for his actions during the Korean War on October 20, 1951. While severely wounded, Keeble is credited with multiple, single-handed assaults on the enemy, saving the lives of his platoon members and allowing his company to achieve its objective despite the loss of all of the unit’s officers and most of its senior non-commissioned officers.
Keeble, a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux tribe and the first full-blooded Sioux to receive the Medal of Honor, joined the North Dakota National Guard in 1940 and served with the Wahpeton based Company I, 164th Infantry Regiment during WWII seeing action in the Guadalcanal and Northern Solomon Islands campaigns. Later, after a break in service, Keeble re-enlisted in the same unit in 1951 at the beginning of the Korean War and later volunteered to join the 24th Infantry Division, where his actions earned him the nation’s highest military award.
Raised in Wahpeton, Keeble attended and worked at the Wahpeton Indian School, now called the Circle of Nations School, prior to his death in 1982.
A formal ceremony to present the award to Keeble’s family is currently being planned for this summer.
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