Maj. Kurt Chew-Een Lee grew up in Sacramento and was the first Asian American officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and a decorated Korean War hero.

Maj. Lee was a gung-ho Marine who gave no ground to enemy troops in battle or to bigotry at home. The firstborn son of Chinese immigrants, he climbed the ranks during a time of strong racial prejudice.

Standing only 5-foot-6, he was nevertheless an imposing figure with a wiry, muscular build and an intimidating gaze. He demanded that subordinates who did not respect him must nevertheless respect his rank.

Lee was a young, skinny lieutenant at the start of the Korean War who earned the respect and loyalty of his men as a fearless leader in extreme combat conditions. He received the Navy Cross, the Marines’ second-highest honor, for bravery during a fierce assault by Communist Chinese forces aiding the North Koreans on the night of Nov. 2-3, 1950.

To spur his men to fight, he took off in the darkness on a one-man raid and exposed himself to fire to pinpoint enemy positions for attack. Shouting in Mandarin to sow confusion, he hurled grenades and shot at Chinese troops, who fled. Wounded in the knee, he was shot the next day by a sniper and treated at an Army field hospital.

Unwilling to be sent to Japan for treatment, Maj. Lee took a Jeep without approval and drove with another wounded Marine to rejoin their platoon in Baker Company of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment. He was assigned to help relieve a Marine division that was encircled by overwhelming enemy numbers while trying to defend their only escape road in the bloody Battle of Chosin Reservoir in December 1950.

Guided only by a compass in pitch-black darkness, he led 500 men through a nighttime blizzard over mountainous terrain at 20 degrees below zero. Pinned under intense enemy fire, he ordered his men to fire while advancing up a steep hill and shot two enemy soldiers along the way with his right arm still in a cast from his sniper wound. The ferocity of the Marine attack broke the resistance of enemy troops, who fled down the reverse slope.

Maj. Lee suffered another bullet wound in his right arm during the successful operation, which enabled 8,000 Marines to escape annihilation by 60,000 Chinese troops. Several days later, he was hit by machine-gun fire that ended his combat service in Korea. Although he received the Silver Star – the third-highest medal for bravery in combat – fellow Marines and other veterans who have studied his actions during the attack have argued that he deserved the highest award, the Medal of Honor.

After the Korean War, Lee served at The Basic School, a Marine officer training program, from 1962 to 1965. He was promoted to the rank of major in 1963 and was a combat intelligence officer in Vietnam. Besides the Navy Cross and Silver Star, he received a Purple Heart with one award star and other military honors.

The story of his gallantry in Korea has been covered in several books and was the subject of a 2010 Smithsonian Channel documentary, “Uncommon Courage: Breakout at Chosin .” in Korea.