"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above
and beyond the call of duty as Leader of an Assault Platoon, serving
with Company G, Third Battalion, Twenty-seventh Marines, Fifth Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces at Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on 27 February 1945. With the advance of his company toward
Hill 362 disrupted by vicious machine-gun
fire from a forward position which guarded the approaches to this key
enemy stronghold, Gunnery Sergeant Walsh fearlessly charged at the head
of his platoon against the Japanese entrenched on the ridge above him,
utterly oblivious to the unrelenting fury of hostile automatic weapons and hand grenades
employed with fanatic desperation to smash his daring assault. Thrown
back by the enemy's savage resistance, he once again led his men in a
seemingly impossible attack up the steep, rocky slope, boldly defiant of
the annihilating streams of bullets which saturated the area, and
despite his own casualty losses and the overwhelming advantage held by
the Japanese in superior numbers and dominate position, gained the
ridge's top only to be subjected to an intense barrage of hand grenades
thrown by the remaining Japanese staging a suicidal last stand on the
reverse slope. When one of the grenades fell in the midst of his
surviving men, huddled together in a small trench, Gunnery Sergeant
Walsh in a final valiant act of complete self-sacrifice, instantly threw
himself upon the deadly bomb, absorbing with his own body the full and
terrific force of the explosion. Through his extraordinary initiative
and inspiring valor in the face of almost certain death, he saved his
comrades from injury and possible loss of life and enabled his company
to seize and hold this vital enemy position. He gallantly gave his life
for his country."
From Gunny Sgt. Walsh's Medal of Honor citation, awarded on April 20, 1948.
May you be at peace,
Brian & Melonie
No comments:
Post a Comment