ORESKO, NICHOLAS - Medal of Honor Recipient
Rank and organization: Master Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 302d Infantry,
94th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Tettington, Germany, 23 January
1945. Entered service at: Bayonne, N.J. Birth: Bayonne, N.J. G.O. No.:
95, 30 October 1945. Citation: M/Sgt. Oresko was a platoon leader with
Company C, in an attack against strong enemy positions. Deadly automatic
fire from the flanks pinned down his unit. Realizing that a machinegun
in a nearby bunker must be eliminated, he swiftly worked ahead alone, braving
bullets which struck about him, until close enough to throw a grenade into
the German position. He rushed the bunker and, with pointblank rifle fire,
killed all the hostile occupants who survived the grenade blast. Another
machinegun opened up on him, knocking him down and seriously wounding him
in the hip. Refusing to withdraw from the battle, he placed himself at
the head of his platoon to continue the assault. As withering machinegun
and rifle fire swept the area, he struck out alone in advance of his men
to a second bunker. With a grenade, he crippled the dug-in machinegun defending
this position and then wiped out the troops manning it with his rifle,
completing his second self-imposed, 1-man attack. Although weak from loss
of blood, he refused to be evacuated until assured the mission was successfully
accomplished. Through quick thinking, indomitable courage, and unswerving
devotion to the attack in the face of bitter resistance and while wounded,
M /Sgt. Oresko killed 12 Germans, prevented a delay in the assault, and
made it possible for Company C to obtain its objective with minimum casualties.
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