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Forest Lawn Memorial Park

Born:  September 22, 1879 at Vinton, IA

Entered Service in the US Army from Iowa

Earned The Medal of Honor During the China Relief Expedition For heroism August 14, 1900 at Peking, China

Died:  May 27, 1966 at the age of 86

Early at the turn of the century a rebel force in China that called itself the Society of "Righteous and Harmonious Fists", subsequently called the "Boxers", initiated a rebellion in China that threatened the legations of several nations in Peking and Tientsin. The 1st Regiment (Marines) under Major Littleton Waller arrived in China on June 19 and tried to seize Tientsin, but was driven back. On June 23 Waller's Marines finally entered the Tientsin, where they held tenuously until reinforced by U.S. Army troops on July 12, and thereafter fought their way to Peking. Beneath the 30-foot wall that surrounded the city, the American commander called for volunteers to scale the wall. "I'll try sir," replied Musician Calvin Titus. Without ropes the trumpeter and Chaplain's musician used hand-holds to slowly scale the wall, and even when fired on as he neared the top, he fearlessly continued on. Musician Titus courage inspired his watching comrades, who then followed, and it was the American and British forces of the multi-national relief force that were first to enter the city to rescue the civilian legation that had been surrounded for 55 days in Peking.