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Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army, Company F, 180th Infantry,
45th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Nieder-Wurzbach, Germany,
18 March 1945. Entered service at: Snyder. Okla. Birth: Ashland, Ala. G.O.
No.: 79, 14 September 1945. Citation: Capt. Treadwell (then 1st Lt.), commanding
officer of Company F, near Nieder-Wurzbach, Germany, in the Siegfried line,
single-handedly captured 6 pillboxes and 18 prisoners. Murderous enemy
automatic and rifle fire with intermittent artillery bombardments had pinned
down his company for hours at the base of a hill defended by concrete fortifications
and interlocking trenches. Eight men sent to attack a single point had
all become casualties on the hare slope when Capt. Treadwell, armed with
a submachinegun and handgrenades, went forward alone to clear the way for
his stalled company. Over the terrain devoid of cover and swept by bullets,
he fearlessly advanced, firing at the aperture of the nearest pillbox and,
when within range, hurling grenades at it. He reached the pillbox, thrust
the muzzle of his gun through the port, and drove 4 Germans out with their
hands in the air. A fifth was found dead inside. Waving these prisoners
back to the American line, he continued under terrible, concentrated fire
to the next pillbox and took it in the same manner. In this fort he captured
the commander of the hill defenses, whom he sent to the rear with the other
prisoners. Never slackening his attack, he then ran across the crest of
the hill to a third pillbox, traversing this distance in full view of hostile
machine gunners and snipers. He was again successful in taking the enemy
position. The Germans quickly fell prey to his further rushes on 3 more
pillboxes in the confusion and havoc caused by his whirlwind assaults and
capture of their commander. Inspired by the electrifying performance of
their leader, the men of Company F stormed after him and overwhelmed resistance
on the entire hill, driving a wedge into the Siegfried line and making
it possible for their battalion to take its objective. By his courageous
willingness to face nearly impossible odds and by his overwhelming one-man
offensive, Capt. Treadwell reduced a heavily fortified, seemingly impregnable
enemy sector.
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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