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Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company I, 15th
Infantry, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Saulx de Vesoul, France,
12 September 1944. Entered service at: Conemaugh, Pa. Birth: Conemaugh,
Pa. G.O. No.: 20, 29 March 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and
intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty on 12 September
1944, in an attack on Saulx de Vesoul, France 1st Lt. Tominac charged alone
over 50 yards of exposed terrain onto an enemy roadblock to dispatch a
3-man crew of German machine gunners with a single burst from his Thompson
machinegun after smashing the enemy outpost, he led 1 of his squads in
the annihilation of a second hostile group defended by mortar, machinegun
automatic pistol, rifle and grenade fire, killing about 30 of the enemy.
Reaching the suburbs of the town, he advanced 50 yards ahead of his men
to reconnoiter a third enemy position which commanded the road with a 77-mm.
SP gun supported by infantry elements. The SP gun opened fire on his supporting
tank, setting it afire with a direct hit. A fragment from the same shell
painfully wounded 1st Lt. Tominac in the shoulder, knocking him to the
ground. As the crew abandoned the M-4 tank, which was rolling down hill
toward the enemy, 1st Lt. Tominac picked himself up and jumped onto the
hull of the burning vehicle. Despite withering enemy machinegun, mortar,
pistol, and sniper fire, which was ricocheting off the hull and turret
of the M-4, 1st Lt. Tominac climbed to the turret and gripped the 50-caliber
antiaircraft machinegun. Plainly silhouetted against the sky, painfully
wounded, and with the tank burning beneath his feet, he directed bursts
of machinegun fire on the roadblock, the SP gun, and the supporting German
infantrymen, and forced the enemy to withdraw from his prepared position.
Jumping off the tank before it exploded, 1st Lt. Tominac refused evacuation
despite his painful wound. Calling upon a sergeant to extract the shell
fragments from his shoulder with a pocketknife, he continued to direct
the assault, led his squad in a hand grenade attack against a fortified
position occupied by 32 of the enemy armed with machineguns, machine pistols,
and rifles, and compelled them to surrender. His outstanding heroism and
exemplary leadership resulted in the destruction of 4 successive enemy
defensive positions, surrender of a vital sector of the city Saulx de Vesoul,
and the death or capture of at least 60 of the enemy.
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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