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Great story OP.

Thanks for sharing it.

Also RIP Mr. First Sergeant McNerney.

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Wow.

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Dusty, very very dusty.  It's sad seeing these heroes leave us one by one.  What a remarkable man.

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Dusty, very very dusty. It's sad seeing these heroes leave us one by one.  What a remarkable man.

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pet peeve, so did he win it or earn it?

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Pretty cool. I once went through a list of Medal of Honor recipients and was amazed at how many were awarded it for throwing themselves on a grenade or mine to save their comrades.

I wonder today how many soldiers would do that, something done without thought, knowing fully it will result in your own death to save your crew.

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Pretty cool. I once went through a list of Medal of Honor recipients and was amazed at how many were awarded it for throwing themselves on a grenade or mine to save their comrades.

I wonder today how many soldiers would do that, something done without thought, knowing fully it will result in your own death to save your crew.

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So this as a related video:
https://youtu.be/YTwIfI5ILqc

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Nice.





The only MoHs I have met where all tombstones showing their resting places.

D-DAY
JUNE 6, 1944

As the men of the 1st Division were training for D-Day, the company commander called Roland and Walter in to meet with him.  He told them that for the first time, they would be separated and placed in different units.  He told the young soldiers there was only a fifty-per cent chance that they would survive the pending invasion, and that Walter would be transferred to Company L as a squad leader.  
Walter went to his new unit and worked hard to prepare his men for the coming invasion.  He and Roland managed to get together one last time in Southampton to talk about their family and wish each other luck.  They both knew they would be participating in the impending landing.  "We'll meet up on the beach," they promised, then went their separate ways to join 170,000 other soldiers as they loaded the ships that would take them across the channel to attack Normandy.

The First Division landed at Omaha beach.  Walter's craft hit a sand bar and the men had to jump into water over their head to make their way to the beach.   A few hundred yards further down the beach Roland's Company was also landing.   There was no time to worry for each other, each brother having responsibilities of their own to attend.  Walter began to lead his squad off the beach.  They were taking fire from enemy bunkers on the bluffs overlooking the beach, and Walter knew the only chance of survival was to keep his men together and attack the high ground.  He led them by his example.  After a 6-hour battle to reach the hills, they finally broke through the German defenses.  Walt's courage and leadership that day saved his platoon and earned him the Bronze Star Medal.  Then, as night fell, he went looking for Roland.
In the darkness and devastation of D-Day at Omaha, it was difficult to find anyone, but at last Walter found Roland's Platoon Sergeant.  He asked about Roland, and was told only that his brother was "Missing In Action".    Worried, Staff Sergeant Walter Ehlers returned to his squad and the fighting that still lay ahead.

In the days that followed, the fighting moved inland as the brave soldiers who had landed at Normandy worked to dislodge the enemy from their fortifications among the hedgerows,  dense thickets and rows of vegetation that separated farms across the country side.  The fighting was bitter, dangerous, and very costly.

By June 9th Walt Ehlers' squad was far ahead of most other Allied troops, and Sgt. Ehlers himself was at the head of his men.  In an early morning attack his company was pinned down in an open field by fire from machine-gun nests and two mortar pits.  Without orders Sgt. Ehlers jumped to his feet and headed towards the first machine-gun nest.  Suddenly a patrol of 4 enemy confronted him.  Quickly the Sergeant killed all four, then proceeded to advance on and single-handedly destroy the machine-gun nest and its crew of eight enemy.   He called to his squad to move up and join him as he turned his attention towards the mortar pits that threatened to destroy the company.  Before continuing the advance he gave an unusual order...."Fix bayonets".  Later he recounted, "It had a psychological effect on the Germans.  They looked horrified and started running."  Ehlers knocked out that position, then his men started taking fire from yet another machine-gun nest.  Again, at a point ahead of everyone else, Sergeant Ehlers advanced on and single-handledly knocked out that enemy position.

By the following day Sergeant Ehlers and his platoon were so far ahead of everyone else they were literally surrounded by Germans.  The platoon was ordered to withdraw, and Sergeant Ehlers' squad assumed the responsibility of covering the withdrawal of the rest of the unit.  Sergeant Ehlers and his BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) man stood back to back to draw enemy fire upon themselves and rain effective fire against the enemy to cover the safe withdrawal of the platoon.  First the BAR man was shot and wounded, then a rifle round struck Sergeant Ehlers in the back.  Ehlers turned quickly and saw the sniper that had wounded him and was able to kill the enemy soldier.  Then, despite his own wound, he carried the stricken BAR man from the battlefield before returning to recover the badly needed BAR.

The medics began treating Sergeant Ehlers' wound and quickly learned that the bullet had hit him in the side, glanced off a rib, and exited from his pack.  Inside that pack was a picture of Walter and Roland Ehlers' mother, and the bullet had torn away the edged of the folder it was in.

Sergeant Ehlers refused to be evacuated.  His wounds treated and bandaged, he returned to his squad.   He later said he didn't want any of his men to be hurt or killed, and he felt his obligation was to be there to lead and protect them.

By July, after a month of fighting, Sergeant Ehler's squad was holed up in an abandoned farm house when he received an unusual visitor.  It was the company commander from his brother Roland's company.  He came bearing sad news.  Roland had died at Omaha beach.  As his landing craft approached a mortar round had hit the ramp instantly killing the older brother.   Walter was devastated.  He saluted the officer and said, "Okay", then found a place of privacy to weep unashamed.

Over the coming weeks Sergeant Ehlers continued to do his job, leading his men.  He was wounded three more times and sent to the hospital twice.  Then he learned he was to receive the Medal of Honor.   It was presented in the field in Paris on December 14, 1944 by Lieutenant General John C. H. Lee.  Then the young hero was flown home for celebrations in Manhattan, Kansas and Christmas with his family.  But it bothered him to think of his men spending Christmas in the field, facing the dangers of a desperate enemy.  He requested and received permission to return, finishing the war with the men of his battalion.  Said Mr. Ehlers at a patriotic event in Pueblo, Colorado in 1995:

"Liberty is worth fighting for, and sometimes worth dying for."

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Great story OP.

Thanks for sharing it.

Also RIP Mr. McNerney.

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I was fortunate enough to me Mr. Walter Ehlers when I was at Camp Pendleton. I was working at the Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton EOD Shop when two gentlemen rang the doorbell and asked for a tour of our weapons and ordnance museum. I obliged, and they presented me with their business cards when we were done.

....

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pet peeve, so did he win it or earn it?

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Pretty cool. I once went through a list of Medal of Honor recipients and was amazed at how many were awarded it for throwing themselves on a grenade or mine to save their comrades.

I wonder today how many soldiers would do that, something done without thought, knowing fully it will result in your own death to save your crew.

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Always like hearing these stories. Never a waste of time, unlike documentaries on politicians