"He was with the 1st Platoon holding an important road junction on high
ground near Kalterherberg, Germany, on 22 December 1944. In the early
morning hours, the enemy after laying down an intense artillery and
mortar barrage, followed through with an all-out attack that threatened
to overwhelm the position. T/Sgt. Dalessandro, seeing that his men were
becoming disorganized, braved the intense fire to move among them with
words of encouragement. Advancing to a fully exposed observation post,
he adjusted mortar fire upon the attackers, meanwhile firing upon them
with his rifle and encouraging his men in halting and repulsing the
attack. Later in the day the enemy launched a second determined attack.
Once again, T/Sgt. Dalessandro, in the face of imminent death, rushed to
his forward position and immediately called for mortar fire. After
exhausting his rifle ammunition, he crawled 30 yards over exposed ground
to secure a light machine gun, returned to his position, and fired upon
the enemy at almost pointblank range until the gun jammed. He managed to
get the gun to fire 1 more burst, which used up his last round, but
with these bullets he killed 4 German soldiers who were on the verge of
murdering an aid man and 2 wounded soldiers in a nearby foxhole. When
the enemy had almost surrounded him, he remained alone, steadfastly
facing almost certain death or capture, hurling grenades and calling for
mortar fire closer and closer to his outpost as he covered the
withdrawal of his platoon to a second line of defense. As the German
hordes swarmed about him, he was last heard calling for a barrage,
saying, "OK, mortars, let me have it--right in this position!" The
gallantry and intrepidity shown by T/Sgt. Dalessandro against an
overwhelming enemy attack saved his company from complete rout."
From T/Sgt. Dalessandro's Medal of Honor citation, awarded on August 30, 1945.
Thank you for your service and may you be at peace,
Brian
Memorial on "Dalessondro Blvd" in Colonie, New York.
Memorial at Watervliet, New York.
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