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Rank and organization: First Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 508th Parachute
Infantry, 82d Airborne Division. Place and date: Holzheim, Belgium, 29
January 1945. Entered service at: Wilkinsburg, Pa. Birth: Braddock Township,
Pa. G.O. No.: 75, 5 September 1945. Citation: He distinguished himself
by gallant, intrepid actions against the enemy. After advancing 15 miles
in a driving snowstorm, the American force prepared to attack through waist-deep
drifts. The company executive officer became a casualty, and 1st Sgt. Funk
immediately assumed his duties, forming headquarters soldiers into a combat
unit for an assault in the face of direct artillery shelling and harassing
fire from the right flank. Under his skillful and courageous leadership,
this miscellaneous group and the 3d Platoon attacked 15 houses, cleared
them, and took 30 prisoners without suffering a casualty. The fierce drive
of Company C quickly overran Holzheim, netting some 80 prisoners, who were
placed under a 4-man guard, all that could be spared, while the rest of
the understrength unit went about mopping up isolated points of resistance.
An enemy patrol, by means of a ruse, succeeded in capturing the guards
and freeing the prisoners, and had begun preparations to attack Company
C from the rear when 1st Sgt. Funk walked around the building and into
their midst. He was ordered to surrender by a German officer who pushed
a machine pistol into his stomach. Although overwhelmingly outnumbered
and facing almost certain death, 1st Sgt. Funk, pretending to comply with
the order, began slowly to unsling his submachine gun from his shoulder
and then, with lightning motion, brought the muzzle into line and riddled
the German officer. He turned upon the other Germans, firing and shouting
to the other Americans to seize the enemy's weapons. In the ensuing fight
21 Germans were killed, many wounded, and the remainder captured. 1st Sgt.
Funk's bold action and heroic disregard for his own safety were directly
responsible for the recapture of a vastly superior enemy force, which,
if allowed to remain free, could have taken the widespread units of Company
C by surprise and endangered the entire attack plan.
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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