Bleak rose to the rank of staff sergeant and was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration of the United States, for his actions near Minari-gol, South Korea, on 14 June 1952.

The seventh of nine children, he dropped out of high school and worked for a time as a farmer and a rancher[1] and also for railroads,[2] but he grew dissatisfied with life in Idaho.

By that point in the war, the fronts had largely stabilized, and the duty in the area was characterized by constant, low-level trench warfare[6] and continued battles over the same ground which produced high casualties.

[7] Bleak served as a field medic, assisting troops on the front lines instead of in Mobile Army Surgical Hospital units.

Bleak volunteered to accompany the 20-man patrol of an I&R Platoon on this mission, which was to send them to a sparsely vegetated feature called Hill 499, where Chinese forces were known to be operating.

[6][n 1] However, as the patrol ascended the hill, it came under heavy Chinese automatic weapons fire which struck the lead elements, injuring several soldiers.

Bleak, at the rear of the formation, rushed forward and treated and stabilized several soldiers hit in the initial volley, then followed the remainder of the patrol as it continued its mission.

According to eyewitness reports, Bleak rushed the trench and dove into it, tackling one Chinese soldier and breaking the man's neck with only his hands, killing him.

[2][3][6] Bleak then returned to the patrol and attempted to treat more wounded members, but soon thereafter a Chinese hand grenade bounced off the helmet of the soldier standing next to him and landed nearby.

He finished his enlistment by serving in Japan, and on 27 October 1953 he was awarded the Medal of Honor in a ceremony at the White House with President Dwight D.

[2] He eventually became a janitor at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, where he worked his way up until his retirement in the mid-1990s as chief hot cell technician, responsible for disposing of spent nuclear fuel rods.

[4] He died on 23 March 2006, at the Lost Rivers District Hospital in Arco, Idaho,[2] from emphysema, Parkinson's disease, and complications from a hip fracture.

Bleak, a member of the medical company, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and indomitable courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy.

Forging up the rugged slope of the key terrain, the group was subjected to intense automatic weapons and small arms fire and suffered several casualties.

Nearing the military crest of the hill, while attempting to cross the fire-swept area to attend the wounded, he came under hostile fire from a small group of the enemy concealed in a trench.

Moving from the emplacement, he saw a concussion grenade fall in front of a companion and, quickly shifting his position, shielded the man from the impact of the blast.