Category: Army

Posts involving current or former members of the United States Army.

Categories
Afghanistan Army Guard-Reserves

Sweating Mines in Kandahar

Former 4-25th Field Artillery Soldier tells of experience with land mines in Afghanistan


I’ve already been in military for 10 years, five of those were active and five were in the Reserves. I went into the military a day after my eighteenth birthday wanting to see the world and that’s exactly what it did. The only thing was also more than I wanted to. Am I complaining? No, not even close. However, my sleep deprivation of today will tell you otherwise. Most soldiers will tell you nothing about the past or even the present. We keep it bottled up and we don’t let it out because we’re trained to do that. Although, every now and then it’s good to get a story of a confrontation or a battle off your chest and that’s exactly what this is.

Continue reading “Sweating Mines in Kandahar”
Categories
Army

Soldier describes scary late night encounter in Germany

First Trip to Hohenfels

For all of you that haven’t had the pleasure of visiting Germany, well hopefully you will get to go someday. However, you might want to steer clear of the US Army Training Facility at Hohenfels.

Continue reading “Soldier describes scary late night encounter in Germany”
Categories
Army Iraq (2002-2011) Women

Woman Iraq veteran describes the pain of losing comrade

To Whom It May Concern
By Marcie

Camp Liberty, Baghdad 2007
The walk back from the Chapel was different this time. Not because he was in our squad and someone I had spoken to moments before the death, not because this was the fourth casualty our unit had suffered so far this month, the mind somehow blocks those truths out. This was a new emotion, something that many of us must have been feeling for awhile now and yet still managed to keep buried for so long now. This was Hate, pure and simple. Hate for the people, hate for the country, and hate for our damned selves for having to be there.

Continue reading “Woman Iraq veteran describes the pain of losing comrade”
Categories
Army Medal of Honor Citations World War II

Medal of Honor Citation: Richard I. Bong

Army Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor Citation: Richard I. Bong (Air Mission)

Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Army Air Corps.

Place and date: Over Borneo and Leyte, 10 October to 15 November 1944.

Entered service at: Poplar, Wis.

Birth: Poplar, Wis.

G.O. No.: 90, 8 December 1944.

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty in the Southwest Pacific area from 10 October to 15 November 1944. Though assigned to duty as gunnery instructor and neither required nor expected to perform combat duty, Maj. Bong voluntarily and at his own urgent request engaged in repeated combat missions, including unusually hazardous sorties over Balikpapan, Borneo, and in the Leyte area of the Philippines. His aggressiveness and daring resulted in his shooting down 8 enemy airplanes during this period.

LINK: Richard I. Bong Veterans Veterans Historical Center

Categories
Army Medal of Honor Citations World War II

Medal of Honor Citation: Cecil H. Bolton

Army Medal of HonorMedal of Honor Citation: Cecil H. Bolton

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company E, 413th Infantry, 104th Infantry Division.

Place and date: Mark River, Holland, 2 November 1944.

Entered service at: Huntsville, Ala.

Birth: Crawfordsville, Fla.

G.O. No.: 74, 1 September 1945.

Citation: As leader of the weapons platoon of Company E, 413th Infantry, on the night of 2 November 1944, he fought gallantly in a pitched battle which followed the crossing of the Mark River in Holland. When 2 machineguns pinned down his company, he tried to eliminate, with mortar fire, their grazing fire which was inflicting serious casualties and preventing the company’s advance from an area rocked by artillery shelling. In the moonlight it was impossible for him to locate accurately the enemy’s camouflaged positions; but he continued to direct fire

Cecil H. Bolton
Cecil H. Bolton
until wounded severely in the legs and rendered unconscious by a German shell. When he recovered consciousness he instructed his unit and then crawled to the forward rifle platoon positions. Taking a two-man bazooka team on his voluntary mission, he advanced chest deep in chilling water along a canal toward 1 enemy machinegun. While the bazooka team covered him, he approached alone to within 15 yards of the hostile emplacement in a house. He charged the remaining distance and killed the 2 gunners with hand grenades. Returning to his men he led them through intense fire over open ground to assault the second German machinegun. An enemy sniper who tried to block the way was dispatched, and the trio pressed on. When discovered by the machinegun crew and subjected to direct fire, 1st Lt. Bolton killed 1 of the 3 gunners with carbine fire, and his 2 comrades shot the others. Continuing to disregard his wounds, he led the bazooka team toward an 88-mm. artillery piece which was having telling effect on the American ranks, and approached once more through icy canal water until he could dimly make out the gun’s silhouette. Under his fire direction, the two soldiers knocked out the enemy weapon with rockets. On the way back to his own lines he was again wounded. To prevent his men being longer subjected to deadly fire, he refused aid and ordered them back to safety, painfully crawling after them until he reached his lines, where he collapsed. 1st Lt. Bolton’s heroic assaults in the face of vicious fire, his inspiring leadership, and continued aggressiveness even through suffering from serious wounds, contributed in large measure to overcoming strong enemy resistance and made it possible for his battalion to reach its objective.

LINK: Cecil H. Bolton Biography

Cecil H. Bolton
Cecil H. Bolton presented Medal of Honor by President Truman in 1945
Categories
Army Medal of Honor Citations World War II

Medal of Honor Citation: Paul L. Bolden

Army Medal of HonorMedal of Honor Citation: Paul L. Bolden

Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company 1, 120th Infantry, 30th Infantry Division.

Place and date: Petit-Coo, Belgium, 23 December 1944.

Entered service at: Madison, Ala.

Birth: Hobbes Island, Iowa.

G.O. No.: 73, 30 August 1945.

Citation: He voluntarily attacked a formidable enemy strong point in Petit-Coo, Belgium, on 23 December, 1944, when his company was pinned down by extremely heavy automatic and small-arms fire coming from a house 200 yards to the front. Mortar and tank artillery shells pounded the unit, when S/Sgt. Bolden and a comrade, on their own initiative, moved forward into a hail of bullets to eliminate the ever-increasing fire from the German position. Crawling ahead to close with what they knew was a powerfully armed, vastly superior force, the pair reached the house and took up assault positions, S/Sgt. Bolden under a window, his comrade across the street where he could deliver covering fire. In rapid succession, S/Sgt. Bolden hurled a fragmentation grenade and a white phosphorous grenade into the building; and then, fully realizing that he faced tremendous odds, rushed to the door, threw it open and fired into 35 SS troopers who were trying to reorganize themselves after the havoc wrought by the grenades. Twenty Germans died under fire of his submachinegun before he was struck in the shoulder, chest, and stomach by part of a burst which killed his comrade across the street. He withdrew from the house, waiting for the surviving Germans to come out and surrender. When none appeared in the doorway, he summoned his ebbing strength, overcame the extreme pain he suffered and boldly walked back into the house, firing as he went. He had killed the remaining 15 enemy soldiers when his ammunition ran out. S/Sgt. Bolden’s heroic advance against great odds, his fearless assault, and his magnificent display of courage in reentering the building where he had been severely wounded cleared the path for his company and insured the success of its mission.

LINK: Paul L. Bolden Biography

Categories
Army Medal of Honor Citations World War II

Medal of Honor Citation: Orville Emil Bloch

Army Medal of HonorMedal of Honor Citation: Orville Emil Bloch

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company E, 338th Infantry,.

Place and date: Near Firenzuola, Italy, 22 September 1944.

Entered service at: Streeter, N. Dak.

Birth: Big Falls, Wis.

G.O. No.: 9, 10 February 1945.

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. 1st Lt. Bloch undertook the task of wiping out 5 enemy machinegun nests that had held up the advance in that particular sector for 1 day. Gathering 3 volunteers from his platoon, the patrol snaked their way to a big rock, behind which a group of 3 buildings and 5 machinegun nests were located. Leaving the 3 men behind the rock, he attacked the first machinegun nest alone charging into furious automatic fire, kicking over the machinegun, and capturing the machinegun crew of 5. Pulling the pin from a grenade, he held it ready in his hand and dashed into the face of withering automatic fire toward this second enemy machinegun nest located at the corner of an adjacent building 15 yards distant. When within 20 feet of the machinegun he hurled the grenade, wounding the machinegunner, the other 2 members of the crew fleeing into a door of the house. Calling one of his volunteer group to accompany him, they advanced to the opposite end of the house, there contacting a machinegun crew of 5 running toward this house. 1st Lt Bloch and his men opened fire on the enemy crew, forcing them to abandon this machinegun and ammunition and flee into the same house. Without a moment’s hesitation, 1st Lt. Bloch, unassisted, rushed through the door into a hail of small-arms fire, firing his carbine from the hip, and captured the 7 occupants, wounding 3 of them. 1st Lt. Bloch with his men then proceeded to a third house where they discovered an abandoned enemy machinegun and detected another enemy machinegun nest at the next corner of the building. The crew of 6 spotted 1st Lt. Bloch the instant he saw them. Without a moment’s hesitation he dashed toward them. The enemy fired pistols wildly in his direction and vanished through a door of the house, 1st Lt. Bloch following them through the door, firing his carbine from the hip, wounding 2 of the enemy and capturing 6. Altogether 1st Lt. Bloch had single-handedly captured 19 prisoners, wounding 6 of them and eliminating a total of 5 enemy machinegun nests. His gallant and heroic actions saved his company many casualties and permitted them to continue the attack with new inspiration and vigor.

LINK: Orville Emil Bloch Medal of Honor Winner from N.D. – Bismark Tribune

Categories
Army Medal of Honor Citations World War II

Medal of Honor Citation: Arnold L. Bjorklund

Army Medal of HonorMedal of Honor Citation: Arnold L. Bjorklund

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 36th Infantry Division.

Place and date: Near Altavilla, Italy, 13 September 1943.

Entered service at: Seattle, Wash.

Birth: Clinton, Wash.

G.O. No.: 73, 6 September 1944.

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy near Altavilla, Italy, 13 September 1943. When his company attacked a German position on Hill 424, the first platoon, led by 1st Lt. Bjorklund, moved forward on the right flank to the slope of the hill where it was pinned down by a heavy concentration of machinegun and rifle fire. Ordering his men to give covering fire, with only 3 hand grenades, he crept and crawled forward to a German machinegun position located on a terrace along the forward slope. Approaching within a few yards of the position, and while continuously exposed to enemy fire, he hurled 1 grenade into the nest, destroyed the gun and killed 3 Germans. Discovering a second machinegun 20 yards to the right on a higher terrace, he moved under intense enemy fire to a point within a few yards and threw a second grenade into this position, destroying it and killing 2 more Germans. The first platoon was then able to advance 150 yards further up the slope to the crest of the hill, but was again stopped by the fire from a heavy enemy mortar on the reverse slope. 1st Lt. Bjorklund located the mortar and worked his way under little cover to within 10 yards of its position and threw his third grenade, destroying the mortar, killing 2 of the Germans, and forcing the remaining 3 to flee. His actions permitted the platoon to take its objective .

Categories
Army Medal of Honor Citations World War II

Medal of Honor Citation: Melvin E. Biddle

Army Medal of HonorMedal of Honor Citation: Melvin E. Biddle

Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company B, 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

Place and date: Near Soy, Belgium, 23-24 December 1944.

Entered service at: Anderson, Ind.

Birth: Daleville, Ind.

G.O. No.: 95, 30 October 1945.

Citation: He displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy near Soy, Belgium, on 23 and 24 December 1944. Serving as lead scout during an attack to relieve the enemy-encircled town of Hotton, he aggressively penetrated a densely wooded area, advanced 400 yards until he came within range of intense enemy rifle fire, and within 20 yards of enemy positions killed 3 snipers with unerring marksmanship. Courageously continuing his advance an additional 200 yards, he discovered a hostile machinegun position and dispatched its 2 occupants. He then located the approximate position of a well-concealed enemy machinegun nest, and crawling forward threw hand grenades which killed two Germans and fatally wounded a third. After signaling his company to advance, he entered a determined line of enemy defense, coolly and deliberately shifted his position, and shot 3 more enemy soldiers. Undaunted by enemy fire, he crawled within 20 yards of a machinegun nest, tossed his last hand grenade into the position, and after the explosion charged the emplacement firing his rifle. When night fell, he scouted enemy positions alone for several hours and returned with valuable information which enabled our attacking infantry and armor to knock out 2 enemy tanks. At daybreak he again led the advance and, when flanking elements were pinned down by enemy fire, without hesitation made his way toward a hostile machinegun position and from a distance of 50 yards killed the crew and 2 supporting riflemen. The remainder of the enemy, finding themselves without automatic weapon support, fled panic stricken. Pfc. Biddle’s intrepid courage and superb daring during his 20-hour action enabled his battalion to break the enemy grasp on Hotton with a minimum of casualties.

Categories
Army Medal of Honor Citations World War II

Medal of Honor Citation: Willibald C. Bianchi

Army Medal of HonorMedal of Honor Citation: Willibald C. Bianchi

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 45th Infantry, Philippine Scouts.

Place and date: Near Bagac, Bataan Province, Philippine Islands, 3 February 1942.

Entered service at: New Ulm, Minn.

Birth: New Ulm, Minn.

G.O. No.: 11, 5 March 1942.

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy on 3 February 1942, near Bagac, Province of Bataan, Philippine Islands. When the rifle platoon of another company was ordered to wipe out 2 strong enemy machinegun nests, 1st Lt. Bianchi voluntarily and of his own initiative, advanced with the platoon leading part of the men. When wounded early in the action by 2 bullets through the left hand, he did not stop for first aid but discarded his rifle and began firing a pistol. He located a machinegun nest and personally silenced it with grenades. When wounded the second time by 2 machinegun bullets through the chest muscles, 1st Lt. Bianchi climbed to the top of an American tank, manned its antiaircraft machinegun, and fired into strongly held enemy position until knocked completely off the tank by a third severe wound.

Categories
Army Medal of Honor Citations World War II

Medal of Honor Citation: Arthur O. Beyer

Army Medal of HonorMedal of Honor Citation: Arthur O. Beyer

Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, Company C, 603d Tank Destroyer Battalion.

Place and date: Near Arloncourt, Belgium, 15 January 1945.

Entered service at: St. Ansgar, Iowa.

Born: 20 May 1909, Rock Township, Mitchell County, Iowa.

G.O. No.: 73, 30 August 1945.

Citation: He displayed conspicuous gallantry in action. His platoon, in which he was a tank-destroyer gunner, was held up by antitank, machinegun, and rifle fire from enemy troops dug in along a ridge about 200 yards to the front. Noting a machinegun position in this defense line, he fired upon it with his 76-mm. gun killing 1 man and silencing the weapon. He dismounted from his vehicle and, under direct enemy observation, crossed open ground to capture the 2 remaining members of the crew. Another machinegun, about 250 yards to the left, continued to fire on him. Through withering fire, he advanced on the position. Throwing a grenade into the emplacement, he killed 1 crewmember and again captured the 2 survivors. He was subjected to concentrated small-arms fire but, with great bravery, he worked his way a quarter mile along the ridge, attacking hostile soldiers in their foxholes with his carbine and grenades. When he had completed his self-imposed mission against powerful German forces, he had destroyed 2 machinegun positions, killed 8 of the enemy and captured 18 prisoners, including 2 bazooka teams. Cpl. Beyer’s intrepid action and unflinching determination to close with and destroy the enemy eliminated the German defense line and enabled his task force to gain its objective.

Categories
Army Medal of Honor Citations World War II

Medal of Honor Citation: Vito R. Bertoldo

Army Medal of HonorMedal of Honor Citation: Vito R. Bertoldo

Rank and organization: Master Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company A, 242d Infantry, 42d Infantry Division.

Place and date: Hatten, France, 9-10 January 1945.

Entered service at: Decatur, 111.

Born: 1 December 1916, Decatur, 111.

G.O. No.: 5, 10 January 1946.

Citation: He fought with extreme gallantry while guarding 2 command posts against the assault of powerful infantry and armored forces which had overrun the battalion’s main line of resistance. On the close approach of enemy soldiers, he left the protection of the building he defended and set up his gun in the street, there to remain for almost 12 hours driving back attacks while in full view of his adversaries and completely exposed to 88-mm., machinegun and small-arms fire. He moved back inside the command post, strapped his machinegun to a table and covered the main approach to the building by firing through a window, remaining steadfast even in the face of 88-mm. fire from tanks only 75 yards away. One shell blasted him across the room, but he returned to his weapon. When 2 enemy personnel carriers led by a tank moved toward his position, he calmly waited for the troops to dismount and then, with the tank firing directly at him, leaned out of the window and mowed down the entire group of more than 20 Germans. Some time later, removal of the command post to another building was ordered. M/Sgt. Bertoldo voluntarily remained behind, covering the withdrawal of his comrades and maintaining his stand all night. In the morning he carried his machinegun to an adjacent building used as the command post of another battalion and began a day-long defense of that position. He broke up a heavy attack, launched by a self-propelled 88-mm. gun covered by a tank and about 15 infantrymen. Soon afterward another 88-mm. weapon moved up to within a few feet of his position, and, placing the muzzle of its gun almost inside the building, fired into the room, knocking him down and seriously wounding others. An American bazooka team set the German weapon afire, and M/Sgt. Bertoldo went back to his machinegun dazed as he was and killed several of the hostile troops as they attempted to withdraw. It was decided to evacuate the command post under the cover of darkness, but before the plan could be put into operation the enemy began an intensive assault supported by fire from their tanks and heavy guns. Disregarding the devastating barrage, he remained at his post and hurled white phosphorous grenades into the advancing enemy troops until they broke and retreated. A tank less than 50 yards away fired at his stronghold, destroyed the machinegun and blew him across the room again but he once more returned to the bitter fight and, with a rifle, single-handedly covered the withdrawal of his fellow soldiers when the post was finally abandoned. With inspiring bravery and intrepidity M/Sgt. Bertoldo withstood the attack of vastly superior forces for more than 48 hours without rest or relief, time after time escaping death only by the slightest margin while killing at least 40 hostile soldiers and wounding many more during his grim battle against the enemy hordes.