One of East Tennessee's most
decorated soldiers is being honored
for his bravery on the battlefield.
10 news anchor John Becker shares what
the military hero did to earn the United
States highest military award for valor.
By all accounts, Morristown,
born Calvin Ward was a military hero.
He seems like
a forgotten hero. Very much so, historians
say Ward's succinct Medal of
Honor citation spells out his
bold action on the battlefield.
Calvin John Ward near Estra,
France, October the 8th. In 1918,
during an advance, private wards
company was held up by a machine gun
accompanied by a non commissioned officer.
He advanced against this post
and succeeded in reducing the nest
by killing three and capturing
seven of the enemy and their guns
and some of the accounts that talked about.
Uh. His uniform with the bullet hose in it.
His Doughboy helmet had shrapnel marks in it.
Pop Marks and holes in it, I mean.
That's just about as Revs it gets.
Historians also note Ward's
battlefield courage bears a striking
similarity to that of celebrated
World War One Medal of Honor
recipient Sergeant Alvin C York.
That East Tennessee soldier saw a
flurry of media and public attention,
including a movie made about his
life and even a German machine gun
he captured returned recently
to an East Tennessee Museum.
Whatever reason Calvin didn't get.
The notoriety. In.
But he actually was awarded
more citations than Alvin York.
Like I say, not take away nothing
from Alvin York's heroics.
So two very different tracks there.
Ward historian Mike Beck lives
in the soldiers hometown and
years ago spoke to Ward's family.
These I got from his youngest sister.
He came away with rarely seen
photos of Ward's Morristown home,
his dog, and these pictures of
a man who took what Beck calls.
A dark path after the war.
When he got home, he wasn't just saying,
the family said. And not Mars.
Integrate back in with society as
we know it. He had a hard time.
I really feel like that he was
a victim of that post traumatic
stress as what we call it today.
Back in those days they
call it battle fatigue.
Rochelle shot and society as well as the
military didn't know how to handle that.
Some people would say he didn't
seem right or especially they'd
like them more as an alcoholic
because at that day and time,
where do you go get relief?
Ward picked up a string of jobs,
including work in a mill and on the railroad.
This picture catches him in a suit alongside
a veteran of the Civil war at a war bond
drive in the 40s at a bank in Bristol.
Ward even re enlisted in the Army for a time,
but withheld his war heroics and medals
from his fellow soldiers in one of
the stories I've read that.
The agent on the military base
found them just in a shoebox
and nobody even knew he was a Medal of Honor.
Sapient, sadly ended up committing suicide.
Beck says family members
always suspected foul play.
Regardless, historians say the
most decorated American soldier
of World War One is buried in
a simple grave in Bristol.
His Medal of Honor sits in a corner
display at his hometown museum,
his other medals much like his legacy.
Are tucked away in a small
box and rarely seen or talked
about the what public the public
really needs to understand.
Yes, they paid price.
And it still hit us to remember.