PETERS, GEORGE J. - Medal of Honor Recipient
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, Company G, 507th Parachute
Infantry, 17th Airborne Division. Place and date: Near Fluren, Germany,
24 March 1945. Entered service at: Cranston, R.I. Birth: Cranston, R.I.
G.O. No.: 16, 8 February 1946. Citation: Pvt. Peters, a platoon radio operator
with Company G, made a descent into Germany near Fluren, east of the Rhine.
With 10 others, he landed in a field about 75 yards from a German machinegun
supported by riflemen, and was immediately pinned down by heavy, direct
fire. The position of the small unit seemed hopeless with men struggling
to free themselves of their parachutes in a hail of bullets that cut them
off from their nearby equipment bundles, when Pvt. Peters stood up without
orders and began a l-man charge against the hostile emplacement armed only
with a rifle and grenades. His single-handed assault immediately drew the
enemy fire away from his comrades. He had run halfway to his objective,
pitting rifle fire against that of the machinegun, when he was struck and
knocked to the ground by a burst. Heroically, he regained his feet and
struggled onward. Once more he was torn by bullets, and this time he was
unable to rise. With gallant devotion to his self-imposed mission, he crawled
directly into the fire that had mortally wounded him until close enough
to hurl grenades which knocked out the machinegun, killed 2 of its operators,
and drove protecting riflemen from their positions into the safety of a
woods. By his intrepidity and supreme sacrifice, Pvt. Peters saved the
lives of many of his fellow soldiers and made it possible for them to reach
their equipment, organize, and seize their first objective.
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