Our grand marshal for the 2003 Nevada Day Parade is Richard Sorenson.
Richard Sorenson spent 24 hours in combat during World War II before he leaped on a grenade to save the members of his machine-gun platoon. At 78, Sorenson was the only living Medal of Honor winner in Nevada members of the Nevada Day Committee could find when they went looking for a grand marshal for the 2003 parade. "I'm pretty proud that they would select me," he said. "I'm the only medal of honor recipient in the entire state."
The
retired Veterans Administration regional office director said he was 18
when he volunteered to join the U.S. Marines in 1942. "I
joined December 13, 1942," he said from his Reno home.
"I went right down after football in October, but it took me that
long to get in. There were lines, I can tell you."
Sorenson was born and raised in the little town of Anoka, Minnesota, and
was attending high school there when war broke out December 7,
1941. He went to boot camp in San Diego and then to Camp
Pendleton, where he joined the 24th regiment of the 4th Marines.
"We were there for a while," he said. "We were the
only Marine division to go from the States right into
combat." Into the maelstrom would be more like it. According
to Sorenson's certificate, his unit landed on Namur Island in Kwajalein
Atoll on February 1, 1944.
During a Japanese counterattack, Sorenson and five other Marines were in
a shell hole when a Japanese grenade landed in their midst.
"I was in combat for about 24 hours," he said. "I
was on the first wave that went in and moved across the island. It was
continuous fighting for a long time."
Sorenson threw himself on the grenade and took the full force of the
blast. "Of the 27 Marines that did it in the entire war, only
three survived," he said. As it was, Sorenson was in the
hospital for nine months after taking the grenade. "They put
me on limited duty and sent me on a war bond drive," he said.
"I was very lucky."
Sorenson survived and ended up returning to the Marine Corps in 1950 to
fight in Korea. He stayed in until 1955, when he went to work for
the Veterans Administration.
He and his wife, Mili, have lived in Reno for 25 years after Sorenson
retired. They have five children and seven grandchildren.
Sorenson has been collecting military helmets for 35 years. His favorite
is from the Prussian guard de corps, the personal escort of the Kaiser
from World War I. "I have some spiked helmets and some from
France and Russia," he said. "And some from the U.S. Marine
Corps."