"Staff Sergeant Rudolph B. Davila distinguished himself by extraordinary
heroism in action, on 28 May 1944, near Artena, Italy. During the
offensive which broke through the German mountain strongholds
surrounding the Anzio beachhead, Staff Sergeant Davila risked death to
provide heavy weapons support for a beleaguered rifle company. Caught on
an exposed hillside by heavy, grazing fire from a well-entrenched
German force, his machine gunners were reluctant to risk putting their
guns into action. Crawling fifty yards to the nearest machine gun, Staff
Sergeant Davila set it up alone and opened fire on the enemy. In order
to observe the effect of his fire, Sergeant Davila fired from the
kneeling position, ignoring the enemy fire that struck the tripod and
passed between his legs. Ordering a gunner to take over, he crawled
forward to a vantage point and directed the firefight with hand and arm
signals until both hostile machine guns were silenced. Bringing his
three remaining machine guns into action, he drove the enemy to a
reserve position two hundred yards to the rear. When he received a
painful wound in the leg, he dashed to a burned tank and, despite the
crash of bullets on the hull, engaged a second enemy force from the
tank’s turret. Dismounting, he advanced 130 yards in short rushes,
crawled 20 yards and charged into an enemy-held house to eliminate the
defending force of five with a hand grenade and rifle fire. Climbing to
the attic, he straddled a large shell hole in the wall and opened fire
on the enemy. Although the walls of the house were crumbling, he
continued to fire until he had destroyed two more machine guns. His
intrepid actions brought desperately needed heavy weapons support to a
hard-pressed rifle company and silenced four machine gunners, which
forced the enemy to abandon their prepared positions. Staff Sergeant
Davila's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with
the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on
him, his unit, and the United States Army."
From SSG Davila's Medal of Honor citation, awarded on June 21, 2000.
Thank you for your service and may you be at peace,
Brian
Told by the man, himself.
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