Only in Oklahoma: Teen bugler honored for WWI heroism

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=070919_1_A4_Teenb52827

Only in Oklahoma: Teen bugler honored for WWI heroism

<::photo::> Lee Gilstrap was a World War I hero as a private, and he held
senior positions as a lieutenant colonel during World War II.

By GENE CURTIS
9/19/2007

A young Oklahoma soldier carried several wounded doughboys to safety at an
aid station and "drafted" German soldiers to help under intense enemy
gunfire in World War I.

For his action on Oct. 8, 1918, Pvt. Lee Gilstrap received the Distinguished
Service Cross, the country's second-highest military award.

When the medal was presented to Gilstrap in 1923, he was called its youngest
recipient. Reports of the day said he was 17 on the day of the rescues. But
records show he was born in 1902, which would have made him 16 during that
1918 action.

The medal was created during World War I -- until then the only U.S.
military award was the Medal of Honor. Gilstrap later received a Silver
Star, a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
Gilstrap was the bugler for Company B of the 142nd Regiment of the 36th
Infantry Division when the division met heavy resistance from German
machine-gunners firing from dugouts along the reverse slope of a hill near
St. Etienne, France.

Many U.S. soldiers were screaming in pain from being wounded by the
machine-gun bullets and from mustard gas.

Gilstrap dropped his bugle and went to their rescue. On his first trip he
learned that all of the regiment's litter bearers had been killed. In spite
of the danger, he made several more trips into the fire zone.

A sniper's bullet knocked Gilstrap unconscious briefly, but when he came to,
he aimed his rifle at the German sniper, preparing to kill him. The sniper
surrendered, however, and Gilstrap put him to work helping carry the wounded
Americans to an aid station.

That's when Gilstrap decided he needed more help -- and he got it, in the
form of several German soldiers he found in shell holes and dugouts.
Persuaded by his rifle, they joined him in rescuing the injured. Two of his
"drafted" helpers were killed by German gunfire. The sniper -- his first
draftee -- died the next day from mustard gas burns he suffered while he was
pulling a U.S. soldier from a gas pocket.

A native of Chandler, Gilstrap liked to lounge around the National Guard
Armory as a youth. He became a rifle marksman and joined the Guard members
on hikes and encampments, always toting his load and sharing work.

When the Guard was sent to battle Pancho Villa's forces after Villa raided a
New Mexico town in 1916, Gilstrap went along as the bugler but also played a
role in the guerrilla warfare that was waged along the U.S.-Mexico border.

After the war, Gilstrap taught at Oklahoma Military Academy, now Rogers
State University, in Claremore until he was called to active duty as a
lieutenant colonel with the 45th Infantry Division in 1940 for World War II.
He was transferred to the office of the European theater provost marshal as
the executive officer under Lt. Gen. William S. Key of Oklahoma. He served
in England and Iceland for 27 months.

Gilstrap returned to the military academy in 1946 but was fired in 1947 as
its public relations director and athletics director by the school's
president, Col. K.S. Perkins.

Gilstrap at first refused to talk about his dismissal, telling reporters
they would have to get any comment from Perkins, who in turn told reporters
that any comment would have to come from Gilstrap.

He later said the dismissal was the result of jealousy "on the hill" -- the
OMA campus. There were reports that a move was under way to have the popular
Gilstrap replace Perkins as the president.

It was learned later that Gilstrap was fired because he didn't have a
master's degree. "I have been teaching at OMA for 20 years and this is the
first time my qualifications have been challenged," he said.

"It is true I do not hold a master's degree, but I have completed 213 hours
of college work, and my training exceeds that of many who hold the degree."

Gilstrap said he didn't want to start a fight because "I have been
associated with Oklahoma Military Academy too long, and I love it too much."

Gilstrap became a speech teacher at Oklahoma A & M College until he retired
in 1965. He died in 1987 at age 85.


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