"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and
beyond the call of duty on September 12, 1944, in an attack on Saulx de Vesoul, France 1st Lt. Tominac charged alone over 50 yards of exposed
terrain onto an enemy roadblock to dispatch a 3-man crew of German
machine gunners with a single burst from his Thompson machinegun. After smashing the enemy outpost, he led 1 of his squads in the annihilation of a second hostile group defended by mortar, machinegun, automatic pistol,
rifle and grenade fire, killing about 30 of the enemy. Reaching the
suburbs of the town, he advanced 50 yards ahead of his men to
reconnoiter a third enemy position which commanded the road with a
77mm SP gun
supported by infantry elements. The SP gun opened fire on his
supporting tank, setting it afire with a direct hit. A fragment from the
same shell painfully wounded 1st Lt. Tominac in the shoulder, knocking
him to the ground. As the crew abandoned the M-4 tank,
which was rolling down hill toward the enemy, 1st Lt. Tominac picked
himself up and jumped onto the hull of the burning vehicle. Despite
withering enemy machinegun, mortar, pistol, and sniper fire, which was
ricocheting off the hull and turret of the M-4, 1st Lt. Tominac climbed
to the turret and gripped the 50-caliber antiaircraft
machinegun. Plainly silhouetted against the sky, painfully wounded, and
with the tank burning beneath his feet, he directed bursts of
machinegun fire on the roadblock, the SP gun, and the supporting German
infantrymen, and forced the enemy to withdraw from his prepared
position. Jumping off the tank before it exploded, 1st Lt. Tominac
refused evacuation despite his painful wound. Calling upon a sergeant to
extract the shell fragments from his shoulder with a pocketknife, he
continued to direct the assault, led his squad in a hand grenade attack
against a fortified position occupied by 32 of the enemy armed with machine guns, machine pistols, and rifles, and compelled them to
surrender. His outstanding heroism and exemplary leadership resulted in
the destruction of 4 successive enemy defensive positions, surrender of a
vital sector of the city Saulx de Vesoul, and the death or capture of
at least 60 of the enemy."
From 1st Lt. Tominac's Medal of Honor citation, awarded on March 29, 1945.
May you be at peace,
Brian
Colonel John Joseph Tominac Memorial Bridge in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
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