"He was painfully wounded in an artillery barrage that preceded the
powerful counteroffensive launched by the Germans near Krinkelt,
Belgium, on the morning of 16 December 1944. He made his way to an aid
station, received treatment, and then refused to be evacuated, choosing
to return to his hard-pressed men, instead. The fury of the enemy's
great Western Front offensive swirled about the position held by T/Sgt.
McGarity's small force, but so tenaciously did these men fight on orders
to stand firm at all costs that they could not be dislodged despite
murderous enemy fire and the breakdown of their communications. During
the day, the heroic squad leader rescued one of his friends, who had
been wounded in a forward position, and throughout the night, he
exhorted his comrades to repulse the enemy's attempts at infiltration. When morning came and the Germans attacked with tanks and infantry, he
braved heavy fire to run to an advantageous position where he
immobilized the enemy's lead tank with a round from a rocket launcher.
Fire from his squad drove the attacking infantrymen back, and three
supporting tanks withdrew. He rescued, under heavy fire, another wounded
American, and then directed devastating fire on a light cannon, which
had been brought up by the hostile troops to clear resistance from the
area. When ammunition began to run low, T/Sgt. McGarity, remembering an
old ammunition hole about 100 yards distant in the general direction of
the enemy, braved a concentration of hostile fire to replenish his
unit's supply. By a circuitous route, the enemy managed to emplace a
machine gun to the rear and flank of the squad's position, cutting off
the only escape route. Unhesitatingly, the gallant soldier took it upon
himself to destroy this menace single-handedly. He left cover, and while
under steady fire from the enemy, killed or wounded all the hostile
gunners with deadly accurate rifle fire and prevented all attempts to
reman the gun. Only when the squad's last round had been fired was the
enemy able to advance and capture the intrepid leader and his men. The
extraordinary bravery and extreme devotion to duty of T/Sgt. McGarity
supported a remarkable delaying action which provided the time necessary
for assembling reserves and forming a line against which the German
striking power was shattered."
From T/Sgt. McGarity's Medal of Honor citation, awarded on January 11, 1946.
May you be at peace,
Brian
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