Native American Heritage Month, Master Sgt. Woodrow W. Keeble

  • Published
  • By Chad Dull
  • 17th Training Wing Historian
GOODFELLOW AFB, Texas --  QUESTION: On 3 March 2008, Master Sgt. Woodrow W. Keeble, U.S. Army National Guard, N.D., of the Sioux Nation, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for actions at Hill 675-770, Korea, on Oct. 20, 1951.  Sgt. Keeble was already a veteran of WWII with the famed Americal Division.  In which famous battle did the Americal Division first participate?

ANSWER: Guadalcanal.  Woody Keeble served with the 164th North Dakota Infantry Regiment, part of the 23rd Americal Division, formed on the island of New Caledonia. Sgt. Keeble, along with other members of the regiment, were shipped to Guadalcanal in October 1942 to relieve battle weary members of the First Marine Division, and became the first U.S. Army unit to conduct offensive operations against the Japanese in the Pacific Theater.  In addition to the Medal of Honor, Master Sgt. Woody Keeble also received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with "V" attachment for Valor, and two Purple Hearts for his actions during the two wars.  Keeble died in 1982.