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| PERSONALIA |
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| Name: |
DeGlopper, Charles N. |
| Date of birth: | November 30th, 1921 (Grand Island/Erie County, New York, United States)
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| Date of death: |
June 9th, 1944 (La Fière/Manche department, Basse-Normandie, France)
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| Nationality: |
American |
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MEDAL OF HONOR - ARMY (MOH)
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Rank:
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Private First Class
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Unit:
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Company C, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division "All American", U.S. Army
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Awarded on:
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February 28th, 1946
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Action:
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Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Co. C, 325th Glider Infantry, 82d Airborne Division. Place and date: Merderet River at la Fiere, France, 9 June 1944. Entered service at: Grand Island, N.Y. Birth: Grand Island, N.Y. G.O. No.: 22, 28 February 1946.
Citation:
He was a member of Company C, 325th Glider Infantry, on 9 June 1944 advancing with the forward platoon to secure a bridgehead across the Merderet River at La Fière, France. At dawn the platoon had penetrated an outer line of machineguns and riflemen, but in so doing had become cut off from the rest of the company. Vastly superior forces began a decimation of the stricken unit and put in motion a flanking maneuver which would have completely exposed the American platoon in a shallow roadside ditch where it had taken cover. Detecting this danger, Pfc. DeGlopper volunteered to support his comrades by fire from his automatic rifle while they attempted a withdrawal through a break in a hedgerow 40 yards to the rear. Scorning a concentration of enemy automatic weapons and rifle fire, he walked from the ditch onto the road in full view of the Germans, and sprayed the hostile positions with assault fire. He was wounded, but he continued firing. Struck again, he started to fall; and yet his grim determination and valiant fighting spirit could not be broken. Kneeling in the roadway, weakened by his grievous wounds, he leveled his heavy weapon against the enemy and fired burst after burst until killed outright. He was successful in drawing the enemy action away from his fellow soldiers, who continued the fight from a more advantageous position and established the first bridgehead over the Merderet. In the area where he made his intrepid stand his comrades later found the ground strewn with dead Germans and many machineguns and automatic weapons which he had knocked out of action. Pfc. DeGlopper's gallant sacrifice and unflinching heroism while facing unsurmountable odds were in great measure responsible for a highly important tactical victory in the Normandy Campaign.
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Details:
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Awarded posthumously.
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BRONZE STAR (BSM)
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Unit:
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Company C, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division "All American", U.S. Army
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PURPLE HEART
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Rank:
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Private First Class
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Unit:
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Company C, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division "All American", U.S. Army
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Action:
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For military merit and wounds received in action resulting in his death.
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Provide alterations or additional information |
| Picture source: |
- portrait: WW2 Airborne US
- Memorial: Marcel Jans, Nederland
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| Information source(s): |
- Jordan, Kenneth N., Yesterday’s Heroes – 433 men of World War II awarded the Medal of Honor 1941-1945, Schiffer Publishing Ltd., USA, 1996
- Murphy, R.M., No Better Place to Die, The Battle for La Fière Bridge, Ste. Mère-Eglise, June 1944, Casemate Publishers, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, 2009
- wikipedia.org
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