Lt. John K. Koelsch, who was a posthumous recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Korean War, will be recognized by the Medal of Honor memorial in Mount Pleasant.

The memorial lists 88 service men from New York state who received the highest medal for valor, going back to the First World War. But Koelsch, a Navy helicopter pilot, was not among the names because he was neither born in New York nor did he enter the military in the New York—both of which are memorial requirements.

However, Peter Fiumefreddo, who heads up the memorial committee told me that an exception will be made for Koelsch, who spent much of his childhood living in Briarcliff Manor and was a considered a local man int 1955 when the old Ossining Citizen Register newspaper ran a story announcing the news that he has posthumously received the medal. Fiumefreddo said the decision to include Koelsch came after last Thursday’s column in which I described the efforts by two Korean War veterans to get his name on local memorials.

Incidentally, there were a number of locals who earned the Medal of Honor before World War, including this man n (right) Robert Temple Emmet, a West Point graduate who fought the Apaches at the 1877 battle of Las Animas Canyon in Arizona. At the time, Emmet was an officer attached to the all-black regiment, 9th Cavalry also known as “Buffalo Soldiers.”

The battle was something of a disaster for the cavalry, but Emmet was cited for bravery for covering a retreat. He was born in New York City, lived in Pelham and is buried at Beechwood Cemetery in New Rochelle.