Герой Пелелиу: Ричард Эдвард Краус

American soldier

Richard Edward Kraus (November 24, 1925October 3, 1944) was a United States Marine who was killed in action in World War II during the Battle of Peleliu on October 3, 1944. He posthumously received the Medal of Honor, the highest military honor awarded by the United States. He threw himself on a Japanese grenade to save his comrades.

Kraus was born in Chicago on November 24, 1925. At age seven, his family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he attended Edison High School. He was inducted into the United States Marine Corps on his 18th birthday, after previously trying to enlist. In July 1944, his unit shipped out for service in the Pacific Theatre and arrived at Pavuvu Island on August 20 and began preparing there for the invasion of Peleliu. On October 3, he was serving as an amphibian tractor driver with a detachment of the 8th Amphibian Tractor Battalion, attached to the 1st Marine Division since the September 15 D Day landings on Peleliu. Kraus and three companions had accepted a volunteer mission that day to evacuate a wounded Marine from the front lines. As the group made their way forward, they were met by an intense barrage of enemy hand grenades, which forced them to take cover and abandon their mission. While returning to the rear, the stretcher party observed two men approaching them who they believed were fellow Marines. Upon challenging the pair, they proved to be Japanese soldiers, and one of them responded by throwing a hand grenade into the midst of the group. Kraus hurled himself on top of the grenade and absorbed the blast, saving the lives of his three comrades. Kraus had been overseas for three months at the time of the Peleliu battle, which was his first campaign. He was initially buried in the U. S. Armed Forces Cemetery on Peleliu, Palau Islands. In 1948, his remains were reinterred at his parents' request in Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Fort Snelling, Minnesota.

Richard E. Kraus is one of three Minnesota Medal of Honor recipients from the Northeast Twin Cities who are named on the Anoka County Veteran's Memorial at Bunker Hills Anoka County Park in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. The United States Navy destroyer Richard E. Kraus was named after him in 1945. The Assault Amphibian Schools Battalion at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton was named and dedicated in his memory. Kraus Hartig VFW Post 6587 in Spring Lake Park, Minnesota, is named after him and another WWII casualty.