WETZEL, WALTER C. - Medal of Honor Recipient
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, 13th Infantry,
8th Infantry Division. Place and date: Birken, Germany, 3 April 1945.
Entered service at:
Roseville, Mich. Birth: Huntington, W. Va. G.O. No.: 21, 26
February 1946. Citation: Pfc. Wetzel, an acting squad leader with the Antitank
Company of the 13th Infantry, was guarding his platoon's command post in
a house at Birken, Germany, during the early morning hours of 3 April 1945,
when he detected strong enemy forces moving in to attack. He ran into the
house, alerted the occupants and immediately began defending the post against
heavy automatic weapons fire coming from the hostile troops. Under cover
of darkness the Germans forced their way close to the building where they
hurled grenades, 2 of which landed in the room where Pfc. Wetzel and the
others had taken up firing positions. Shouting a warning to his fellow
soldiers, Pfc. Wetzel threw himself on the grenades and, as they exploded,
absorbed their entire blast, suffering wounds from which he died. The supreme
gallantry of Pfc. Wetzel saved his comrades from death or serious injury
and made it possible for them to continue the defense of the command post
and break the power of a dangerous local counterthrust by the enemy. His
unhesitating sacrifice of his life was in keeping with the U.S. Army's
highest traditions of bravery and heroism.
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