"He led the 3d Platoon to the rescue of a similar unit which had been
surrounded in an enemy counterattack at Oberhoffen, France. As he
advanced along a street, he observed several Germans crossing a field
about 100 yards away. Running into a barn, he took up a position in a
window and swept the hostile troops with sub machine gun fire, killing 6, wounding others, and completely disorganizing the group. His platoon then moved forward through intermittent sniper
fire and made contact with the besieged Americans. When the 2 platoons
had been reorganized, Sgt. Dahlgren continued to advance along the
street until he drew fire from an enemy-held house. In the face of machine pistol
and rifle fire, he ran toward the building, hurled a grenade through
the door, and blasted his way inside with his gun. This aggressive
attack so rattled the Germans that all 8 men who held the strong point
immediately surrendered. As Sgt. Dahlgren started toward the next house,
hostile machine gun fire drove him to cover. He secured rifle grenades,
stepped to an exposed position, and calmly launched his missiles from a
difficult angle until he had destroyed the machine gun and killed its 2
operators. He moved to the rear of the house and suddenly came under the
fire of a machine gun emplaced in a barn. Throwing a grenade into the
structure, he rushed the position, firing his weapon as he ran; within,
he overwhelmed 5 Germans. After reorganizing his unit he advanced to
clear hostile riflemen from the building where he had destroyed the
machine gun. He entered the house by a window and trapped the Germans in
the cellar, where he tossed grenades into their midst, wounding several
and forcing 10 more to surrender. While reconnoitering another street
with a comrade, he heard German voices in a house. An attack with rifle
grenades drove the hostile troops to the cellar. Sgt. Dahlgren entered
the building, kicked open the cellar door, and, firing several bursts
down the stairway, called for the trapped enemy to surrender. Sixteen
soldiers filed out with their hands in the air. The bold leadership and
magnificent courage displayed by Sgt. Dahlgren in his heroic attacks
were in a large measure responsible for repulsing an enemy counterattack
and saving an American platoon from great danger."
From Sgt. Dahlgren's Medal of Honor citation, awarded on September 10, 1945.
Thank you for your service and may you be at peace,
Brian
Oral history from Dahlgren himself.
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