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Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company A, 142d Infantry,
36th Infantry Division. Place and date: Oberhoffen, France, 12 February
1945. Entered service at: Blaine, Ohio. Birth: Lansing, Ohio. G.O. No.:
60, 25 July 1945. Citation: He led a squad in the night attack on Oberhoffen,
France, where fierce house-to-house fighting took place. After clearing
1 building of opposition, he moved his men toward a second house from which
heavy machinegun fire came. He courageously exposed himself to hostile
bullets and, firing his submachine gun as he went, advanced steadily toward
the enemy position until close enough to hurl grenades through a window,
killing 3 Germans and wrecking their gun. His progress was stopped by heavy
rifle and machinegun fire from another house. Sgt. Deleau dashed through
the door with his gun blazing. Within, he captured 10 Germans. The squad
then took up a position for the night and awaited daylight to resume the
attack. At dawn of 2 February Sgt. Deleau pressed forward with his unit,
killing 2 snipers as he advanced to a point where machinegun fire from
a house barred the way. Despite vicious small-arms fire, Sgt. Deleau ran
across an open area to reach the rear of the building, where he destroyed
1 machinegun and killed its 2 operators with a grenade. He worked to the
front of the structure and located a second machinegun. Finding it impossible
to toss a grenade into the house from his protected position, he fearlessly
moved away from the building and was about to hurl his explosive when he
was instantly killed by a burst from the gun he sought to knock out. With
magnificent courage and daring aggressiveness, Sgt. Deleau cleared 4 well-defended
houses of Germans, inflicted severe losses on the enemy and at the sacrifice
of his own life aided his battalion to reach its objective with a minimum
of casualties.
This data was extracted from the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, U.S. Senate, Medal of Honor Recipients: 1863-1973 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1973)
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