James L. Stone, Officer Decorated in Korean War, Dies at 89

Col. James L. Stone, who as an Army platoon leader on a desolate hilltop facing overwhelming Chinese forces during the Korean War rallied his men, then stayed behind to cover their retreat despite being wounded three times, actions for which he earned the Medal of Honor, died on Friday at his home in Arlington, Tex. He was 89.

The cause was prostate cancer, his wife, Mary Lou, said.

At sundown on Nov. 21, 1951, Colonel Stone, then a first lieutenant, was leading about 50 men from the First Cavalry Division of the Eighth Cavalry Regiment when Chinese forces began firing white phosphorous shells to mark the American position above the Imjin River, near Sakogae, North Korea. About 9 p.m., after an artillery barrage, Chinese troops swept up the hill....