b. 20/10/1923 Grier City, Pennsylvania. d. 17/09/1944 Raddon-et-Chapendu, France.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 17/09/1944 Raddon-et-Chapendu, France.
Harold O Messerschmidt MOH
Messerschmidt joined the Army from Chester, Pennsylvania in May 1943, and by September 17, 1944, was serving as a Sergeant in Company L, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. During a German attack on that day, near Raddon-et-Chapendu, France, he led and encouraged his men until everyone in his unit had been killed or wounded. Ignoring his own wounds, he continued to fight the enemy force alone in hand to hand combat until he was killed. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor ten months later, on July 17, 1946.
Messerschmidt, aged 20 at his death, was buried in Christ Lutheran Church Cemetery, Barnesville, Pennsylvania.
MOH CITATION:
He displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. Braving machine-gun, machine pistol, and rifle fire, he moved fearlessly and calmly from man to man along his 40-yard squad front, encouraging each to hold against the overwhelming assault of a fanatical foe surging up the hillside. Knocked to the ground by a burst from an enemy automatic weapon, he immediately jumped to his feet, and ignoring his grave wounds, fired his submachine gun at the enemy that was now upon them, killing five and wounding many others before his ammunition was spent. Virtually surrounded by a frenzied foe and all of his squad now casualties, he elected to fight alone, using his empty submachine gun as a bludgeon against his assailants. Spotting one of the enemy about to kill a wounded comrade, he felled the German with a blow of his weapon. Seeing friendly reinforcements running up the hill, he continued furiously to wield his empty gun against the foe in a new attack, and it was thus that he made the supreme sacrifice. Sgt. Messerschmidt’s sustained heroism in hand-to-hand combat with superior enemy forces was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service.
BURIAL LOCATION: CHRIST WHITE CHURCH CEMETERY, BARNESVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: FAMILY.
