MILLER, ANDREW - Medal of Honor Recipient
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company G, 377th Infantry,
95th Infantry Division. Place and date: From Woippy, France, through Metz
to Kerprich Hemmersdorf, Germany, 1629 November 1944. Entered service at:
Two Rivers, Wis. Birth: Manitowoc, Wis. G.O. No.: 74, 1 September 1945.
Citation: For performing a series of heroic deeds from 1629 November 1944,
during his company's relentless drive from Woippy, France, through Metz
to Kerprich Hemmersdorf, Germany. As he led a rifle squad on 16 November
at Woippy, a crossfire from enemy machineguns pinned down his unit. Ordering
his men to remain under cover, he went forward alone, entered a building
housing 1 of the guns and forced S Germans to surrender at bayonet point.
He then took the second gun single-handedly by hurling grenades into the
enemy position, killing 2, wounding 3 more, and taking 2 additional prisoners.
At the outskirts of Metz the next day, when his platoon, confused by heavy
explosions and the withdrawal of friendly tanks, retired, he fearlessly
remained behind armed with an automatic rifle and exchanged bursts with
a German machinegun until he silenced the enemy weapon. His quick action
in covering his comrades gave the platoon time to regroup and carry on
the fight. On 19 November S/Sgt. Miller led an attack on large enemy barracks.
Covered by his squad, he crawled to a barracks window, climbed in and captured
6 riflemen occupying the room. His men, and then the entire company, followed
through the window, scoured the building, and took 75 prisoners. S/Sgt.
Miller volunteered, with 3 comrades, to capture Gestapo officers who were
preventing the surrender of German troops in another building. He ran a
gauntlet of machinegun fire and was lifted through a window. Inside, he
found himself covered by a machine pistol, but he persuaded the 4 Gestapo
agents confronting him to surrender. Early the next morning, when strong
hostile forces punished his company with heavy fire, S/Sgt. Miller assumed
the task of destroying a well-placed machinegun. He was knocked down by
a rifle grenade as he climbed an open stairway in a house, but pressed
on with a bazooka to find an advantageous spot from which to launch his
rocket. He discovered that he could fire only from the roof, a position
where he would draw tremendous enemy fire. Facing the risk, he moved into
the open, coolly took aim and scored a direct hit on the hostile emplacement,
wreaking such havoc that the enemy troops became completely demoralized
and began surrendering by the score. The following day, in Metz, he captured
12 more prisoners and silenced an enemy machinegun after volunteering for
a hazardous mission in advance of his company's position. On 29 November,
as Company G climbed a hill overlooking Kerprich Hemmersdorf, enemy fire
pinned the unit to the ground. S/Sgt. Miller, on his own initiative, pressed
ahead with his squad past the company's leading element to meet the surprise
resistance. His men stood up and advanced deliberately, firing as they
went. Inspired by S/Sgt. Miller's leadership, the platoon followed, and
then another platoon arose and grimly closed with the Germans. The enemy
action was smothered, but at the cost of S/Sgt. Miller's life. His tenacious
devotion to the attack, his gallant choice to expose himself to enemy action
rather than endanger his men, his limitless bravery, assured the success
of Company G.
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