Richard Thomas Shea

United States Army Medal of Honor recipient

Richard Thomas Shea, Jr. (January 3, 1927 – July 8, 1953) was a soldier in the United States Army in the Korean War. He was listed as missing in action on July 8, 1953, during the Second Battle of Pork Chop Hill, and was later declared killed in action. Lt. Shea received the Medal of Honor posthumously. In 1987, Shea was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

A native of Norfolk County, Virginia, Shea graduated from Churchland High School. He first studied in uniform at Virginia Polytechnic Institute at the height of World War II, but left early to join the US Army in 1944. He served in the US Constabulary in post war Europe, rising to the rank of staff Sergeant, before he entered West Point in 1948.

Shea was an All American in track and was said to have been the greatest track star to attend West Point. He ran his first competitive race at VPI. One of the West Point Black Knights' most celebrated distance runners, Dick Shea captured Heptagonal and IC4A individual cross country titles in three successive years (1949–51), helping Army to three straight team "Heps" titles during that time. The top performer on Army's dominant cross country team, Shea led the Black Knights to a 19–2 record during his West Point career, a mark that included three straight "shutouts" of arch rival Navy. He set seven Academy records in indoor and outdoor track and field and established a meet record in the 2 mile (3 km) run at the prestigious Penn Relays in 1951. Shea repeated as the two mile champ at both the Penn Relays and Heptagonal Championships in 1951 and 1952. His standards in the indoor 1 mile (2 km) run (4:10) and 2 mile (3 km) run (9:05.8) remained on Army's record books for more than a decade. Since 1952, only eight Army runners have achieved a better time in the mile, either indoors or outdoors. Today, Army's outdoor track and field complex bears his name. Turning down the opportunity to attend the Olympic Games, after graduating in 1952, he joined his classmates in the Korean War.

Richard Shea received the Medal of Honor for actions on July 7 and 8, 1953 as an Army first lieutenant and acting company commander at Pork Chop Hill, near Sokkogae in Yeoncheon during the Korean War. Fighting outnumbered, he voluntarily proceeded to the area most threatened, organizing and leading a counterattack. In the ensuing bitter fighting, he killed two of the enemy with his trench knife. In over 18 hours of heavy fighting, he moved among the defenders of Pork Chop Hill organizing a successful defense. Leading a counterattack, he killed three enemy soldiers single handedly. Wounded he refused evacuation. He was last seen alive fighting hand to hand while leading another desperate counterattack. He left behind both a wife and an unborn son. His Medal of Honor was presented to his widow at the parade grounds of Fort Myer, Virginia, by Secretary of the Army Robert T. Stevens on May 16, 1955. He is buried at Olive Branch Cemetery in Portsmouth, Virginia. VFW Post 9382 in Suffolk, Virginia, is named in his honor.