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Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company G, 169th Infantry,
43d Infantry Division. Place and date: Pangasinan Province, Luzon, Philippine
Islands, 12 January 1945. Entered service at: Altoona, Pa. Birth: Altoona,
Pa. G.O. No.: 77, 10 September 1945. Citation: He led the assault squad
when Company G attacked enemy hill positions. The enemy force, estimated
to be a reinforced infantry company, was well supplied with machineguns,
ammunition, grenades, and blocks of TNT and could be attacked only across
a narrow ridge 70 yards long. At the end of this ridge an enemy pillbox
and rifle positions were set in rising ground. Covered by his squad, S/Sgt
Laws traversed the hogback through vicious enemy fire until close to the
pillbox, where he hurled grenades at the fortification. Enemy grenades
wounded him, but he persisted in his assault until 1 of his missiles found
its mark and knocked out the pillbox. With more grenades, passed to him
by members of his squad who had joined him, he led the attack on the entrenched
riflemen. In the advance up the hill, he suffered additional wounds in
both arms and legs, about the body and in the head, as grenades and TNT
charges exploded near him. Three Japs rushed him with fixed bayonets, and
he emptied the magazine of his machine pistol at them, killing 2. He closed
in hand-to-hand combat with the third, seizing the Jap's rifle as he met
the onslaught. The 2 fell to the ground and rolled some 50 or 60 feet down
a bank. When the dust cleared the Jap lay dead and the valiant American
was climbing up the hill with a large gash across the head. He was given
first aid and evacuated from the area while his squad completed the destruction
of the enemy position. S/Sgt. Laws' heroic actions provided great inspiration
to his comrades, and his courageous determination, in the face of formidable
odds and while suffering from multiple wounds, enabled them to secure an
important objective with minimum 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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