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Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Battery A, 861st
Field Artillery Battalion, 63d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near
Untergriesheim, Germany, 6 April 1945. Entered service at: Waco, Tex. Birth:
Toledo, Ohio. G.O. No.: 117, 11 December 1945. Citation: He was a field
artillery forward observer attached to Company A, 253d Infantry, near Untergriesheim,
Germany, on 6 April 1945. Eight hours of desperate fighting over open terrain
swept by German machinegun, mortar, and small-arms fire had decimated Company
A, robbing it of its commanding officer and most of its key enlisted personnel
when 1st Lt. Robinson rallied the 23 remaining uninjured riflemen and a
few walking wounded, and, while carrying his heavy radio for communication
with American batteries, led them through intense fire in a charge against
the objective. Ten German infantrymen in foxholes threatened to stop the
assault, but the gallant leader killed them all at point-blank range with
rifle and pistol fire and then pressed on with his men to sweep the area
of all resistance. Soon afterward he was ordered to seize the defended
town of Kressbach. He went to each of the 19 exhausted survivors with cheering
words, instilling in them courage and fortitude, before leading the little
band forward once more. In the advance he was seriously wounded in the
throat by a shell fragment, but, despite great pain and loss of blood,
he refused medical attention and continued the attack, directing supporting
artillery fire even though he was mortally wounded. Only after the town
had been taken and he could no longer speak did he leave the command he
had inspired in victory and walk nearly 2 miles to an aid station where
he died from his wound. By his intrepid leadership 1st Lt. Robinson was
directly responsible for Company A's accomplishing its mission against
tremendous odds.
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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