Joseph Vittori

He was originally buried at the United Nations military cemetery in Busan, South Korea. His body was returned to the United States in January 1952 for reburial in St. Mary's Cemetery, Beverly, Massachusetts. The Medal of Honor was presented to his parents on September 7, 1952.

He was killed during the Battle of the Punchbowl while defending against an assault on Hill 749 near Songnea-dong on the night of September 15–16, 1951. He was fatally wounded while fighting off an enemy breakthrough at a gap in his battalion's lines. He was the 19th Marine to earn the nation's highest decoration for heroism in Korea. For his actions he posthumously received the Medal of Honor.

On September 16, 1951, during the Battle of the Punchbowl his company was assaulting Hill 749, where the Korean People's Army had established several entrenched positions. A vicious enemy counter-attack drove back a forward platoon with heavy casualties, and along with two other volunteers from his reserve platoon, he dashed into hand-to-hand combat in the midst of the swarming enemy to give the Marine company time to consolidate its positions. Later, when a call went up for an automatic rifleman to defend an isolated heavy machine gun position on the flank of his company's sector, he again volunteered. With heavy casualties leaving a 100-yard (91 m) gap in the Marine lines at the position, he fought a single-handed battle to prevent an enemy breakthrough. Leaping from one side of the position to the other, he kept up a withering fire of over 1,000 rounds in three hours. He made repeated trips through heavy shellfire to replenish his ammunition, manned a machine gun after its gunner fell, and despite enemy penetration to within feet of his position, kept the enemy out of the breach in his company's lines until he was killed by a single gunshot wound in the face. The next morning the Marines counted almost 200 enemy dead in the area.

With his service to the Marine Corps over he returned to his hometown of Beverly, Massachusetts and worked for a year as a plasterer and bricklayer until enlisting in the Marine Corps Reserve on September 26, 1950, for an indefinite tour of active duty. He was sent back to Camp Lejeune for training until January 1951, when he arrived in South Korea to join Company F, Second Battalion, First Marines, First Marine Division (Reinforced). He participated in the South and Central Korean campaign, receiving a promotion to corporal on June 15, 1951. On June 9, 1951, he earned his first Purple Heart when was wounded near Yanggu, and after leaving the field hospital, was assigned a position as a property sergeant. After a week at the new job, he asked to rejoin his buddies in his old infantry platoon, and was allowed to do so.

After enlisting he was sent to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina where he graduated in December 1946. He served briefly at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia and Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York before being attached to the Marine Detachment aboard the USS Portsmouth from April to June 1947. After sea duty he was then stationed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard until May 1948, when he joined the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune North Carolina. From January to May 1949, he served with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean area and again served at Camp Lejeune, until October 3, 1949, when he was discharged.

Corporal Joseph Vittori (August 1, 1929 – September 16, 1951) was a 22-year-old United States Marine who was killed in action during the Korean War.

Vittori was born in Beverly, Massachusetts August 1, 1929 and attended school there until graduating from high school. He worked on his father's farm until October 4, 1946, and then joined the Marine Corps on a three-year enlistment.