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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 Tientsen. 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. |
| When the Spanish-American War broke out, 18-year old Calvin Titus joined the Iowa National Guard. The brief war ended before his unit was activated, so he enlisted in the regular army to serve in the Philippines from which he was dispatched to China. His courage there led to an appointment to West Point where, during his first year, President Theodore Roosevelt awarded his Medal of Honor. Titus graduated 43d in his class of 1905, and returned to his old unit as a lieutenant. Titus served 32 years in the army, six of which were spent as commandant of the Coe College (Cedar Rapids, IA) R.O.T.C. program. As musician for the unit chaplain, Calvin Titus is sometimes considered the only Chaplain's Assistant (though there was no designated MOS for that position at the time) to receive the Medal of Honor. |
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