COPORAL
JACK ARDEN DAVENPORT, USMC (DECEASED)
 

Medal of Honor Citation

Jack Arden Davenport, a former Golden Gloves boxer, was born 7 September 1931 in Kansas City, Missouri, where he graduated from high school in 1949. While in high school, he was a newspaper carrier for the Kansas City Star and played American Legion baseball for three seasons. Upon completing high school, he studied for a year at the University of Kansas, where he was a member of the freshman football team.

He enlisted in the Marine Corps on 25 July 1950, and completed his boot training at San Diego, California, that September. He was then stationed with the Training and Replacement Command at Camp Pendleton, California, until December 1950, when he embarked to join the 5th Marines in Korea.

Corporal Davenport was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for sacrificing his life to save the life of a fellow Marine in Korea. In the early morning of 21 September 1951 he was standing watch together with another Marine when an enemy hand grenade landed in their foxhole. Without thought of his own safety, Cpl Davenport found the grenade in the dark and smothered its explosion with his own body in order to save the life of his fellow Marine.

His body was returned to the United States in January 1952 to be buried at Mount Moriah Cemetery, Hickman Mills, Missouri. Cpl Davenport's father received the Medal of Honor on 7 January 1953 from Secretary of the Navy Daniel A. Kimball in Washington, D.C.

Korean War 1950-1953 Medal of Honor