Duluth vets fight for return of Medal of Honor

A Duluth museum is recognizing a veteran who was killed during World War II with a new display featuring a replica of the Medal of Honor he was awarded posthumously for his valor in battle, while at the same time fighting to have the original medal returned to Duluth.

The St. Louis County Historical Society on Monday installed the replica Medal for Maj. Henry Courtney, who was killed in 1945 while leading his command of Marines on an assault of the strategically important Sugar Loaf Hill in the Battle of Okinawa.

"One of the Marines that went up that hill with him said you always hear from the officer in charge, 'All right men, move out.' And what Henry said is, 'I'm going up that hill. Who's going to follow me?'" said Courtney's nephew, Court Storey of Afton, Minn., who traveled to Duluth for the ceremony.

Now Storey and other family members, along with veterans and museum officials in Duluth, are also fighting to bring Courtney's original medal back to Duluth.

Henry Courtney was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously in 1947 by President Harry Truman, who cited his "indomitable leadership and decisive action in the face of overwhelming odds."

He was 29 when he died, had never married, and didn't have any children. The medal was given to his parents, who lived in Duluth. When they died in 1980, one of their children donated the medal to the Freedoms Foundation, an educational nonprofit in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

Duluth Honor Guard Mike Stainbrook, who has researched Courtney's life, said that at the time there wasn't a suitable place in Minnesota to display the medal. The St. Louis County Historical Society hadn't yet created its Veterans Memorial Hall and museum.

Now that there's a secure place to display the medal to the public in Duluth, Storey said it should be returned.

"The fact that this was the hometown of the family for 60 years, and where he was born and where he's buried, makes this just a better place to touch more lives," he said. "The memory will be kept alive better with the medal here than it will be in Pennsylvania."

He said they have asked the Freedoms Foundation for two years either to return the medal, or to loan it to the historical society. He said they have not been responsive. The foundation also didn't respond to a request for comment for this story.

Duluth veterans now plan to enlist the help of elected officials and others to wage what he called an "old-fashioned letter writing campaign" to try to persuade the group to release the medal, which Stainbrook said is currently stored in a lockbox and not on public display in Pennsylvania.

"It would be much more meaningful in our native son's hometown," he said.