The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Lt. Col. Matt Louis Urban - Feb 11th, 2004

Various | FReeper Michael121

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

...................................................................................... ...........................................

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

Where Duty, Honor and Country
are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.

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The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.

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Lt. Col. Matt Louis Urban
One of the Most Decorated American Combat Soldiers of World War II

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: Aug. 25, 1919, Buffalo, N.Y.
WIFE: Mrs. Jennie Urban, Holland, Mich.
CHILDREN:Jennifer
CIVILIAN SCHOOLING: Cornell University, New York, N.Y.
(B.A. in history and government, minor in community recreation)

Lt. Col. Matt Louis Urban

Five days after D-Day, the 9th Infantry Division came ashore at Utah Beach. At the head of the 60th Infantry Regiment’s Company F was Capt. Matt Urban. A Veteran of the 9th’s campaign in North Africa and Sicily, Urban had repeatedly proven himself to be the epitome of an infantry officer.

Just a few days after landing in France, Urban once again proved his mettle. On June 14th, Company F attacked Renouf. Encountering heavy enemy small arms and tank fire, the company’s advance ground to a halt. Realizing his unit stood on the verge of decimation, Urban grabbed a bazooka. He told an ammo carrier to follow him, then worked his way through the hedgerows to a point near two panzers. Brazenly exposing himself to the tank’s fire, he loaded and fired the bazooka. Within minutes he destroyed both armored vehicles.

Later that same day Company F led an attack into Orglandes. Urban took shrapnel in his leg from an exploding German 37-mm round. He refused evacuation. At 5:00 A.M. the next morning he led his company in yet another attack. An hour later he was hit again. This time there was no doubt; he’d have to be evacuated. By noon he was in the back of a truck, the first leg in his journey back to England.


9th Infantry Division Patch

Urban’s story begins in Buffalo, New York, where he was born on August 25, 1919. Though his family was not poor money was scarce. Urban worked very hard through his high school years to contribute to the family’s coffers. By saving extra money he was able to enter Cornell University in 1937. He earned good grades and excelled in boxing, wining his division in the collegiate championship of 1939.

As a member of Cornell’s ROTC program, Urban received the call of duty in June 1941. He attended officer candidate school, then joined the 60th Infantry Regiment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. By the time the 60th Infantry received orders for overseas shipment in the summer of 1942, Urban held the post of Executive Officer of Company F.

In North Africa Urban quickly demonstrated his heroism and exceptional leadership traits. He earned two Silver Stars and the first of seven Purple Hearts. He also assumed command of Company F after its commanding officer became a casualty.


60th Infantry Regiment Unit Crest

In mid-July 1944, while still recuperating from his wounds received near Orglandes, Urban was visited in the hospital by a wounded man from his company. Urban learned how the exceedingly brutal fighting in Normandy had reduced Company F from a first class fighting machine to a frightened, frustrated, motionless mass of men. Determined to help his men, Urban deserted his hospital bed that very night. Over the next several days the determined Urban hitched his way back to France. Still wearing his bandages Urban rejoined his demoralized company the morning of July 25th. As a sergeant remembered, “The sight of him limping up the road, all smiles, raring to lead the attack, once more brought the morale of the battle-weary men to the highest peak.” Urban well remembers that day. “I was full of anger, remorse, and despair. I’d seen my men mutilated, chopped up. I was seeking revenge. I was like a tiger. It was all bubbling up inside of me, and it exploded.”

Urban began his exploits that very afternoon by rescuing a wounded man from a burning tank. Late that evening his battalion’s attack upon a well-entrenched German position located atop a prominent hill stalled under fierce fire. Two supporting tanks had been destroyed and a third, although intact, did not move. Urban located the lieutenant in charge of the supporting armor and laid out a plan of attack to reduce the hill position.


Near St. Lo, France -- July 15, 1944

The lieutenant and a sergeant were killed by the intense enemy fire as they tried to climb aboard the immobile tank. Urban, though hobbling because of his leg wound, dashed through the unrelenting enemy fire and mounted the tank. As enemy rounds hit all around him, he ordered the tank forward. He armed the .50-caliber machine gun. While the tank fired its cannon into the enemy positions Urban followed up with well-aimed bursts of fire.

“I was crying as I went up that hill,” Urban remembered, “I thought I was a goner, that I was headed for certain death.”

But he didn’t die. Unscathed, he reached the top of the hill. Alone he had destroyed the enemy positions holding up his battalion.

Over the next five weeks Urban repeatedly displayed his fearless heroism. On August 2nd he received his fifth wound. Against the battalion surgeon’s advice Urban stayed with his company. Four days later the battalion commander became a casualty. Over officers more senior in rank and age, Urban was selected to take his place. On August 15th, while at the forefront of his battalion’s attack, Urban was wounded for the sixth time.

Urban’s battalion crossed the Meuse River near Heer, Belgium, on September 2nd. The lead elements immediately ran into a fierce barrage of enemy artillery, mortar, and small-arms fire. As was his custom, Urban left his command post to personally lead the GI’s across the river. As he moved across open ground, an exploding mortar shell drove shrapnel deep into his throat. Although unable to speak above a whisper, he refused to leave the battlefield until assured his men had made it across the river. Only then did he agree to let the medics evacuate him. The next day while Urban sailed back to England aboard a hospital ship, the Germans counterattacked his battalion. Those GI’s who weren’t killed were captured. Among them was S. Sgt. Earl G. Evans who had served with Urban since North Africa. After Urban rode the tank into the German position in Normandy, Evans overheard a battalion officer say he was going to recommend Urban for the Medal of Honor. Unfortunately, that man died in the fighting at the Meuse.


Soldiers of 60th Infantry Regiment advance into a Belgian town under the protection of a heavy tank.
National Archives Photo

When Sgt. Evans was repatriated in July 1945 he wrote a letter to the War Dept. recommending Urban for a Medal of Honor. The War Dept. forwarded it to the commanding General of the 9th Division, on occupation duty in Germany. It never arrived. But a copy of Evan’s letter was placed in Urban’s personal file.

In the meantime, Urban had recuperated from his wounds. He received a promotion to LTC in October 1945. Five months later he received a medical discharge. Among his medals were counted 2 Silver Stars, 1 Legion of Merit, 3 Bronze Stars, and 7 Purple Hearts. He knew nothing of Evan’s letter.

After Urban requested information and his official file was reviewed by the Army Military Awards Branch, the original recommendation was found and a lengthy process was begun to reconstruct the events described in Evans' recommendation.

Since the Medal of Honor is the nation's highest decoration for valor, detailed evidence of the performance of the act or acts is essential. Eyewitness statements or affidavits, as well as other documents from official records, must supply this evidence that the act or acts justify the Medal of Honor. In Urban's case, this task was made considerably more difficult than would ordinarily be the case since the recommendation involved heroism performed more that 35 years before.



As the pieces of the puzzle were assembled by the Army Awards Branch, a most dramatic picture of Urban emerged. He had clearly established himself as an outstanding combat leader who was fearless and highly esteemed by his men.

The eyewitness statements, even though they were prepared many years after the fact, show a remarkable consistency in what they describe. In each case, Urban's fearlessness is related in detail, but his concern for the welfare and safety of his men and his ability to inspire them to their best efforts are just as clearly demonstrated.

Although Urban received two Silver Stars for actions in Africa, his valorous actions in France and Belgium in 1944 had not been recognized with a military decoration for heroism except for a Bronze Star Medal he received for action on June 14, 1944.

From a legal standpoint, the recommendation on Urban meets all requirements of the law. Public Law (Title 10, USC) stipulates that a Medal of Honor may be awarded if a statement setting forth the act to be recognized is made within two years of the act and that records indicate the individual is entitled to the award. This same Public Law permits consideration of a recommendation for award of the Medal of Honor if the secretary of the Army determines that a statement was made within two years of the act to be recognized and no award was made because the statement was lost or through inadvertence, the recommendation was not acted upon.



The postwar years passed peacefully for Urban. On July 19th 1980, 36 years after the fact, President Carter hung the Medal of Honor around Urban’s neck. Befitting the occasion, the presentation was made before veteran’s of the 9th Division at their reunion in Washington DC. President Carter said, “Matt Urban showed that moments of terrible devastation can bring out courage. His actions are a reminder to this nation so many years later of what freedom really means.”

The German’s nicknamed Matt Urban “der Geist” meaning “the Ghost” because he always came back after they thought he was gone.

Matt Urban died in March 1995 from a collapsed lung that had been injured in one of his numerous combat actions in 1944.

Thanks to FReeper Michael121 for bringing Lt. Col Urban to the Foxhole's attention and for researching his biography

[SAMWolf]

I guess we all have our share of jerk politicians. Maybe we really do get the governments we deserve.

[colorado tanker]

I'm sure that's true, the media is gonna make him sound like he won the war all by himself.

You mean he didn't? :)

I don't think this guy is gonna fool the overwhelming majority of veterans. It's all fake anyway, the idea that lots of veterans support F'ing Kerry. His "Veterans for Kerry" guy is another VVAW POS.

[snippy_about_it]

I guess we both have our regrettable politicians. Drunk while visiting the hallowed grounds of Katyn, that's so shameful and sad.

[Johnny Gage]

Air Power
Tupolev Tu-2 'Bat'

The Tupolev TU-2 is one of the planes which are not well known, the first design of this plane began during the early years of WWII.Previously designed for the replacement of the PE-2 wich was built in great number, the TU-2 in fact never replace the PE-2.

The initial project was nammed ANT-58,and was a fast attack bomber, able to carry up to 2000kg of bomb at a speed over 500km/h

The plane design is quite simple, and his shape is very similar to the PE-2 for non trained eyes it's easy to confuse the two planes.

The TU-2 have near size of the PE-2 but is heavier 12800 kg in maximum charge against the 8000kg for the Pe-2.

It's a twin engine four seat bomber ,the fuselage have a very aérodynamic shape and the plane looks like more as a fighter than a bomber.

The design was so good that until the end of his career in the 60's no major modifications was introduced. The Tu-2 is one of the few planes to receive a NATO code , the TU-2 used by communist block was nammed " BAT "

Soon the plane was on duty she was very appreciated by the crew, fast, powerful and robust the plane was able to succed in most of the missions.

A ground attack variant was developped , with a 37mm gun, and a night fighter with radar equipment was also built.

The TU-6 latest development of the TU-2 was similar but have a bigger wing and bigger tail.

The TU-2 was yet in use during the Korean war between 1950 and 1953. China received 100 Tu-2 which stayed long years on duty.
Many Warsaw Pact country have use the TU-2 after 1945 , Poland was one of the greatest user of the TU-2

NOTE:My apologies for spelling/grammar, I pulled the info off a foreign website

Specifications:
Manufacturer: Tupolev
Function: Bomber
Crew: 4
Engines: Two ASh-82FNV, twin radial 14 cylinders with 1380kW each

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 18.86 m
Length: 13.8 m
Height: 4.55 m
Max weight: 11360 kg
Empty weight: 7474 kg

Performance :
Max speed: 550 kph
Ceiling: 9500 m
Range: 1400 km

Armaments:
2 x 20mm cannons
3 x 12.7mm MG
4000kg of bombs

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All information and photos Copyright of their respective sites & owners

[Johnny Gage]

Naked Gun... a great funny movie.

I am always amazed at how well Leslie Nielsen could keep a straight face when making all those jokes.

[snippy_about_it]

Excellent choice as always. :-)

[SAMWolf]

Well maybe not the whole war but he did clean out the Mekong Delta of VC. ;-)

I think there are more Vets against him than for him, just the Anti-Kerry Vets don't get press.

[SAMWolf]

That's worse than getting BJ's in the Oval Office and having a draft-dodger show up at Arlington.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Johnny.

Learned about a new plane today. Not familiar with this one.

[SAMWolf]

He was good at playing Frank Drebin. The gags just kept right on coming.

[SAMWolf]

He sounds like your "Clinton".

[SAMWolf]

On November 11th, 2000 The Polish Community Center of Buffalo, Inc. was renamed for Lt. Col. Matt Urban, one of America's most decorated combat veterans. Lt. Col. Urban who grew up within doors of the center won 28 medals, including the Medal of Honor and the purple heart (6olc). He was wounded seven times during WWII. The Center is proud to continue serving the community bearing the name of a true American Hero.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks Sam. I hope they get the stamp for him, at least then his name and history will be learned by more folks.

[SAMWolf]

Completing a Final Mission for Matt Louis Urban:

Primus inter pares - First among equals -

Pierwszy pomiedzy rownymi

by Anthony J. Bajdek

Lieutenant Colonel Matt Louis Urban is one of them. Their number will perpetually remain the same: 434. They were, and a few still are, the American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who during World War II earned the U. S. Congressional Medal of Honor, America's highest honor for members of its Armed Forces, the only decoration given in recognition of conduct in battle above and beyond the call of duty.

A consideration of their harrowing combat accomplishments, as written in their Congressional Medal of Honor citations, is a humbling experience for any reader. I have read their citations. Better than one of every three of them had been killed in action, with the last being killed in action on June 8, 1945. The vast majority of them were ordinary Americans living in extraordinary times. They virtually represented all the enlisted ranks as well as the ranks of commissioned officers. They represented, from December 7, 1941, at the start of the War, through July 29, 1945 when the final Congressional Medal of Honor recipient earned his citation, the spectrum of American servicemen of different ethnicities and races, including Captain Audie Murphy who for many years was held to be America's most-decorated soldier of World War II.

At least nine of those Congressional Medal of Honor recipients had been Americans of Polish descent. There may be others with mothers of Polish ancestry, but their numbers are nearly impossible to determine, without extensive, painstaking research. Therefore, as I begin this article, I believe it worthwhile and fitting indeed to mention the names of the nine that we can identify, there origins, and CMH (i.e., Congressional Medal of Honor)-cited "fields of glory" because in not too many more years they will not be remembered collectively as the memory of World War II fades deeper and deeper into history:

- Sergeant Sylvester Antolak, U. S. Army, Company B, 15th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division, born in St. Clairsville, Ohio, killed in CMH-cited action on 24 May 1944 near Cisternia di Littoria, Italy.

- Private First Class John Dutko, U. S. Army, 3d Infantry Division, born in Dilltown, Pennsylvania, killed in CMH-cited action on 23 May 1944 near Ponte Rotto, Italy.

- Private First Class William J. Grabiarz, U. S. Army, Troop E, 5th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, born in Buffalo, New York, killed in CMH-cited action on 23 February 1945 in Manila, Luzon, the Philippine Islands.

- Private First Class Anthony L. Krotiak, U. S. Army, Company I, 148th Infantry, 37th Infantry Division, born in Chicago, Illinois, killed in CHM- cited action on 8 May 1945 in Balete Pass, Luzon, the Philippine Islands.

- Private First Class Edward J. Moskala, U. S. Army, Company C, 383d Infantry, 96th Infantry Division, born in Chicago, Illinois, killed in CMH-cited action on 9 April 1945 on Kakazu Ridge, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands.

- Sergeant Joseph J. Sadowski, U. S. Army, 37th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division, born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, killed in CMH-cited action on 14 September 1944 at Valhey, France.

- Second Lieutenant Joseph R. Sarnoski, U. S. Army Air Corps, 43d Bomber Group, born in Simpson, Pennsylvania, killed in CMH-cited action on 16 June 1943 over Buka Area, the Solomon Islands.

- Captain Matt Louis Urban, U. S. Army, 2d Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, born in Buffalo, New York, survived seven separate CMH-cited combat actions on 14 June, 15 June, 25 July, 2 August, 15 August, and 3 September, 1944 in battles in Renouf, Orglandes, and St. LÛ, France and in Heer, Belgium.

- Private First Class Frank P. Witek, 1st Batallion, 9th Marines, 3d Marine Division, born in Derby, Connecticut, killed in CMH-cited action on 3 August, 1944 during the Battle of Finegayan at Guam, the Marianas Islands.

This article isn't about whether Matt Urban or Audie Murphy had earned the greater number of decorations in World War II. According to the Total Army Personnel Command in Alexandria, Virginia, Matt Urban, along with Audie Murphy, has the distinction of being the most decorated American combat soldier of the War. Both Urban and Murphy each received 29 decorations, including the Congressional Medal of Honor. Consult also the Arlington National Cemetery website on Matt Urban which confirms that his "exploits on WWII battlefields earned him as many citations as the legendary Audie Murphy, thereby making him one of America's most-decorated soldiers."

The flames of that controversy have been fueled by the fact that the 1989 Guinness Book of World Records identified Matt Urban as "The Most Combat-Decorated Soldier in American History" and in the June 11, 1984 issue of PEOPLE Weekly magazine, staff writer Michael Ryan stated in his An American Hero article that a "generation of Americans was taught that Audie Murphy - heroic soldier, Medal of Honor holder, later movie star - was the most decorated U. S. fighting man of World War II. That was true - until 1980, when former Lieutenant Colonel Matt Urban received a spate of honors - including his seventh Purple Heart, a Croix de Guerre, the Legion of Merit and the Congressional Medal of Honor - all of which had been lost in a bureaucratic shuffle at the end of the War. With 29 medals in 20 months, Urban is the most decorated soldier in U. S. history."

We supporters of Urban must be careful not to denigrate Captain Audie Murphy's outstanding CMH-cited exemplary heroism in one battle near Holtzwihr, France on January 26, 1945 in which he was wounded once. Neither should they decry the fact that the United States Postal Service issued, in the year 2000, a commemorative stamp that honored Audie Murphy as well as three other American combat heroes of World Wars I and II. After all, Postal Service regulations require a ten year period following the death of a potential honoree before issuing a commemorative stamp. Audie Murphy died in 1971. Matt Urban died in 1995, thereby making him eligible for a commemorative stamp in 2005.

Urban's story is truly remarkable even by standards established for the Congressional Medal of Honor in that he received the Congressional Medal of Honor not only because in exceeding the typical one or two displays of battlefield courage above and beyond the call of duty but also because, as stated in his Congressional Medal of Honor citation, he uniquely "distinguished himself by a series of bold, heroic actions, exemplified by singularly outstanding combat leadership, personal bravery, and tenacious devotion to duty, during the period from 14 June to 3 September 1944" in at least five separate battles at Renouf, Orglandes, and St. LÛ in France as well as at Heer, Belgium, during which he was wounded many times and for which he received seven Purple Hearts. PEOPLE Weekly reporter Michael Ryan, in the same article of June 11, 1984 noted above, corroborates the unusual quality of Urban's CMH-cited combat actions when he wrote that Matt Urban's "citation is unusual in that it mentions 10 separate acts of bravery that span practically the entire Normandy campaign." During that Normandy campaign, the Germans against whom he fought named then Captain Matt Louis Urban The Ghost because no matter how many times they thought they had killed him, he always came back to fight them again in another place.


First in the summer of 1998, then in the winter of 1999, and recently in the spring of 2001, American motion picture aficionados had the opportunity to view three nostalgic, thought-provoking hit motion pictures, Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, and Pearl Harbor, being the fictional stories of realistic World War II combat in the European and Pacific Theaters of (Military) Operations respectively. From now until the year 2005 (because United States Postal Service Regulations require a ten year passage of time from the year of the honoree's death before issuing a commemorative stamp), we Polish Americans should be obligated, in my opinion, to work to perpetuate the memory of Lieutenant Colonel Matt Louis Urban (shortened from Urbanowicz), a documented real, not fictional, American hero for the ages, by collecting signatures on petitions urging the United States Postal Service to issue a stamp in his honor in 2005. Friends, forget Rambo, the fictional product of some Hollywood writer's imagination, but teach your children and inform your friends and associates to always remember The Ghost, Matt Louis Urban, the real product of Polish American parents in Buffalo, NY, a high school star athlete, a college student at Cornell University who worked several part time jobs to pay for his tuition and living expenses, and an ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) graduate from Cornell as well.

As far as I am concerned, the matter should not be delayed beyond that point given the fact that Matt Urban himself incredibly had to wait 35 years to receive his Congressional Medal of Honor because of the "bureaucratic shuffle" with his records in our federal government. Unintentional error though it was, it was an injustice to him and his family. It robbed him of national notoriety in the years immediately following the end of World War II when Hollywood film writers and producers would have jumped at the rights to his story as an "All-American" hero.

[snippy_about_it]

....who worked several part time jobs to pay for his tuition and living expenses, and an ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) graduate from Cornell as well.

I'm a firm believer that too much is handed to children nowadays and it was never a bad thing to work your way through school and endure tough times. It makes for a better person and that person has a better chance of survival when times get tough, imo.

[SAMWolf]

Don't feel bad, I didn't know about Col Urban until about two weeks ago.