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Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 45th Infantry Division.
Place and date: At Oliveto, Italy, 22 September 1943. Entered service at:
Tulsa, Okla. Birth: Broken Arrow, Okla. G.O. No.: 30, 8 April 1944. Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond
the call of duty in action on 22 September 1943, at Oliveto, Italy. Although
2d Lt. Childers previously had just suffered a fractured instep he, with
8 enlisted men, advanced up a hill toward enemy machinegun nests. The group
advanced to a rock wall overlooking a cornfield and 2d Lt. Childers ordered
a base of fire laid across the field so that he could advance. When he
was fired upon by 2 enemy snipers from a nearby house he killed both of
them. He moved behind the machinegun nests and killed all occupants of
the nearer one. He continued toward the second one and threw rocks into
it. When the 2 occupants of the nest raised up, he shot 1. The other was
killed by 1 of the 8 enlisted men. 2d Lt. Childers continued his advance
toward a house farther up the hill, and single-handed, captured an enemy
mortar observer. The exceptional leadership, initiative, calmness under
fire, and conspicuous gallantry displayed by 2d Lt. Childers were an inspiration
to his men.
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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