COOL DUDES I ADMIRE: MASTER SGT. ERNEST R. KOUMA

Master Sgt. Ernest R. Kouma faced a lot of combat in his years on earth. Serving with the 9th infantry division in Europe during WWII, he went on to stack more bodies in Korea years later.

On August 31st, 1950, Kuoma was in his M26 tank of the 2nd infantry division. The men were part of a defensive perimeter around Pusan when an enemy force launched a devastating attack. The majority of the tanks were quickly destroyed and the 2nd infantry began to withdraw. Kuoma and his tank crew singlehandedly defended the waves of assault for over 9 hours.

During one wave, communist forces surrounded the tank. Despite facing heavy gun fire, Kouma crawled out of the turret and used the mounted .50 caliber to fire into the enemy at point blank range. When he ran out of ammo on the mounted gun, he used his sidearm and grenades to keep them off the tank. 

A twice wounded Kouma ordered his tank to withdraw back to friendly lines. They drove through 8 miles of enemy territory, taking out three machine gun nests along the way. He managed to kill over 250 enemy soldiers.

Once he returned to the lines, he started to resupply his tank to re-join the fight. He was told numerous times to stand down by his superiors— his actions later earned him the Medal of Honor.