| abstract | - Lou Klein (c. 1905-1951) was a staff sergeant in the United States Army. He'd survived World War II, receiving the Purple Heart with two oak-leaf clusters. He was still a sergeant during the Korean War and World War III. In April 1951, he was assigned to Lt. Cade Curtis' company. While Klein was more than experienced enough to be an officer himself, he'd never gone to OCS. For his part, Curtis understood how valuable and talented Klein was, and relied on him. At first, Klein treated Curtis like he would any other young and inexperienced junior officer but quickly realized his surviving the disaster at Chosin Reservoir and getting back to American lines had tempered him. After the North Koreans tried and failed to break through with T-34/85s at the lines the company was protecting and Curtis' good performance, he began treating the younger man with more respect. June of 1951 saw Curtis, Klein, and the rest of the company bogged down south of Chongju, with the Americans and the Chinese intermittently taking shots at one another. In July, Curtis decided to use bazookas to destroy a Red Chinese Maxim gun that was giving the company a hard time. While Klein tried to talk him out of it, Curtis and PFC Frank Sanderson successfully slipped out, destroyed the Maxim, survived and returned to their own lines safely, much to Klein's surprise. Klein and the rest of the comapny were most likely killed when the Soviet Union dropped an atomic bomb on their position. Curtis, who'd received leave for his act, was away and survived.
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