A collection of features and graduate profiles covering Harvard’s 375th Commencement.
In October 1952, a young Harvard alumnus named Sherrod Skinner was killed after rolling onto a live grenade to save his fellow Marines. Skinner, a second lieutenant, was a junior officer thrust into the Korean War just months after his commissioning in Harvard’s ROTC program.
On Wednesday, Skinner’s memory was offered as an example of the leadership traditions of two important American institutions, Harvard and the military. Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Richard Clark held up Skinner as an example to the 19 graduating seniors who were commissioned as second lieutenants and ensigns into the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Space Force on Wednesday.
Clark said Skinner’s leadership and cool head despite being twice wounded helped his Marines hold off enemy forces attempting to overrun their outpost. When they ran out of ammunition, he ordered his remaining forces, which had fallen back into a bunker, to feign death. The ploy worked until an enemy soldier tossed in a grenade, which landed between Skinner and another Marine.
Skinner’s actions earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor, one of 18 awarded to Harvard alumni. His example, Clark said, offers lessons in leadership and honor that are instructive for young officers. Just months earlier, Skinner had been on Harvard’s campus, yet, despite his inexperience, he didn’t hesitate in making the ultimate sacrifice. Clark, who led the Air Force Academy and is a pilot with 400 combat flight hours, said the story makes him wonder what he might have done in a similar situation.
