Lieutenant JOSEPH ATTWOOD GIDDINGS, JR., Class of 1949, upon graduating from the United States Military Academy, attended the Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. At the outbreak of the Korean War he was ordered to the Far East Command where he was assigned to the 57th Field Artillery Bn, 7th Infantry Division. Upon joining the 57th, he was assigned as Forward Observer Company "B", 31st Infantry Regiment.

Lieutenant Giddings participated in the Inchon Landing, September 1950, and in several engagements against the Red Communist Forces.

The night of November 29, 1950, Company "B" was ambushed north of Koto-Ri, North Korea. Lieutenant Giddings, acting more as a Platoon Leader than a Forward observer did everything possible to assist the Commanding Officer of "B" Company to organize a perimeter. An enemy sniper had so placed himself as to enable him to fire into the perimeter, thereby wounding several men. Lieutenant Giddings, without regard for his own safety or life, exposed himself to enemy fire and knocked out the sniper; in doing, so he was mortally wounded.

The valor displayed by Lieutenant Giddings should stand as an example to all men of the United States Army as his actions were those of an officer and an American who died fighting for something in which he believed.

Personal Eulogy