WATCH: Mansfield Native Helps North Korean Flee Country

MANSFIELD, MA — A Mansfield native was recently cited for saving the life of a North Korean solider attempting to defect from the country.

Maj. Jeffrey Schmidt was one of six U.S. and South Korean solders recently cited by UN Command and U.S. Forces Korea head Gen. Vincent Brooks for saving the solider, who fled the country while under fire.

Video of the Nov. 13 defection released by Stars and Stripes shows the soldiers driving a Jeep to the country's border and running out of the country, despite gunfire from the North Korean side of the peninsula.

The solders on the South Koran side had to crawl to the defector, who was wounded by gunfire.

Jeffrey Schmidt graduated from Mansfield High School in 1997. Also honored were Sgt. 1st Class Noh Yeong Soo, Sgt. 1st Class Song Seoung Hyeon, Sgt. Robert Hartfield, Lt. Col. Kwon Young Hwan, and Lt. Col. Matthew Farmer.

Image via U.S. Forces Korea