Community mourns, celebrates life of Korean War hero Fred McGee

STEUBENVILLE -- Retired Marine Sgt.-turned-Chaplain Jack Ernest said he was hard-pressed to think of a better way to describe his friend, the late Fred McGee, than to quote a passage from the Bible: "Greater love hath no man than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends."

"Here's a man, Fred McGee, (who) believed that," Ernest said Saturday during a service celebrating McGee's life. "Even as a young man he lived that."

McGee, 89, died Jan. 3 at the VA Hospital in Pittsburgh.

"He lived the Scripture out, without concern for his own safety," Ernest said. "He ran headlong, face-first, into battle."

McGee , who served in the Army during the Korean War, was just 23 when he found himself on Hill 528 Tang-Wan-Ni in June 1952, "sent to fight against an entrenched, numerically superior army." A gunner on a light machine gun in a weapons squad, McGee "delivered a heavy volume of supporting fire from an exposed position, despite intense enemy machine gun and mortar fire directly on his position."

When his squad leader was wounded and his second in command out of commission, McGee took charge "and moved the squad even further forward to a more exposed position, in order to deliver neutralizing fire on an enemy machine gun sweeping the assault platoon with deadly flanking fire." When his machine gunner was killed, McGee took over the gun. "Although wounded twice, once in the face and subsequently in the leg…when ordered to withdraw, he held his position, demonstrating his high standard of duty to the mission and his comrades."

"That's what you do when you're willing to lay down your life for someone else," Ernest said. "You don't think twice, you just do it. (And) he continued to live it throughout his life."

Ernest reminded the crowd of another Bible passage, Timothy 4:7-8, "…I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith…"

"I believe Fred knew his time here on earth was coming to an end," Ernest said. "He finished his race, he fought all the way to his last breath. He never gave up. He set an example for all of us."

Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla said he'd met McGee about 40 years ago at the Smithfield Fair, "never knowing he was a hero." It was only later that he learned McGee had been awarded the Silver Star and two Purple Hearts for his heroism. He'd also been promised the Congressional Medal of Honor, though that, inexplicably, never happened.

"Fred was the real deal," Abdalla said. "The enemy was coming right at him -- he was wounded but he still stood tall. And when I say 'stood tall,' he was going towards the enemy.

"How brave he was in the face of danger," Abdalla said. "He was an all-American man."

Tony Jones, speaking on behalf of the family, said McGee "lived an incredible life," adding he was "always proud of being a military guy, serving his country."

"He was a tough father, but that was how he was brought up," Jones said. "He wanted his kids to be tough, he wanted his grandkids to be tough.

"He left behind a beautiful family," Jones added. "Stay strong, that's the only way he'd want you to be, and his legacy will live on."

McGee is survived by his wife of 65 years, Cornell; sons, Brian, Fred Jr. (Dana) and James (Kelly); daughters, Victoria Frederica and Robin; a sister, a brother, 11 grandchildren,11 great-grandchildren, a brother-in-law, two sisters-in-law, and a number of nephews, cousins and lifelong friends.