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Posted on 02/22/2009 5:00:10 PM PST by Kathy in Alaska
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Evening Connie, Hugs
Nice One.
Philly, we hardly knew ye.
Night.
Thanks for tonight's inspiration.
Evening, Kathy.
Good evening, philly, and thanks for your support globe. A good day for you?
From Xerox ~ Let's Say Thanks to our Troops
Simple. Easy. Involve your kids.
We can each send thanks every single day.
Hello everyone!
Howdy
Good evening, Taz and Solly. Enjoy spending time with Mom in the chair. ((HUGS))
Thanks, unique, for the perfect woohoo.
Well, hello there, tx...((HUGS))...you been keeping busy? Lots of ceremonies?
Red!!! ((HUGS))...how are you this fine evening? I hear the weather has been a bit cold lately.
Thank you for tonights thread Ma and Star!
Good evening everyone!
MRAP MARKER - Mine resistant ambush protected vehicles sit in a row on the Camp Liberty MRAP fielding site, Feb. 20, 2009. The day marks the introduction of the 10,000th vehicle into the Iraq theater of operations. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Christopher Gaylord
TRACTOR PATRO - U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jason McCullough provides security while his fellow soldiers survey a tractor storage facility in Diwaniyah, Iraq, Feb. 12, 2009. McCoullough is assigned to the 4th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo by Senior Airman Eric Harris
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Alton Knappenberger was working on a Pennsylvania pig farm when he was drafted in 1943 at the age of nineteen. He landed at Anzio, on the Italian coast, on January 22, 1944, as part of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, and although he did not know it at the time, he was about to become engaged in one of the toughest combat actions of World War II. “Knappie,” as his friends called him, was surprised by how little resistance the Germans initially offered. But as his unit slowly pushed inland over the next few days, he could sense that the enemy was regrouping. It rained constantly. He never forgot the mud; it was so thick and viscous that he worried it might suck off his boots.
German machine gun about eighty yards away opened fire, its slugs hitting right in front of Knappenberger and kicking mud into his face. He scrambled to a Browning Automatic Rifle lying beside one of his dead comrades, stood up, and aimed a burst at the machine gun, killing the three Germans operating it. Two Germans crawled to a point within twenty yards of Knappenberger’s knoll and threw potato masher grenades at him. Knappenberger wheeled and killed them both with one burst from his automatic rifle.
range of a hundred yards. Knappenberger silenced it with the BAR. Shortly afterward, a German 20 mm antiaircraft gun directed fire at his unit. He took out the German position with his BAR. For the next two hours, Knappenberger single-handedly held off the enemy infantry, which was threatening the efforts of the U.S. force to organize a defense. When he ran low on ammunition, he crawled through heavy fire to the body of another fallen American and grabbed clips from his pack. He resumed firing and repelled a German platoon armed with automatic weapons. Despite heavy fire, shells bursting within fifteen yards of him, he held his precarious position while continuing to fire at the enemy. Finally, his ammunition supply completely exhausted, he rejoined his company, having disrupted the enemy attack for more than two hours. Only six men out of his company of two hundred had not been killed or wounded.
near Cisterna di Littoria, Italy. When a heavy German counterattack was launched against his battalion, Pfc. Knappenberger crawled to an exposed knoll and went into position with his automatic rifle. An enemy machinegun 85 yards away opened fire, and bullets struck within 6 inches of him. Rising to a kneeling position, Pfc. Knappenberger opened fire on the hostile crew, knocked out the gun, killed 2 members of the crew, and wounded the third. While he fired at this hostile position, 2 Germans crawled to a point within 20 yards of the knoll and threw potato-masher grenades at him, but Pfc. Knappenberger killed them both with 1 burst from his automatic rifle. Later, a second machinegun opened fire upon his exposed position from a distance of 100 yards, and this weapon also was silenced by his well-aimed shots. Shortly thereafter, an enemy 20mm. antiaircraft gun directed fire at him, and again Pfc. Knappenberger returned fire to wound 1 member of the hostile crew. Under tank and artillery shellfire, with shells bursting within 15 yards of him, he held his precarious position and fired at all enemy infantrymen armed with machine pistols and machineguns which he could locate. When his ammunition supply became exhausted, he crawled 15 yards forward through steady machinegun fire, removed rifle clips from the belt of a casualty, returned to his position and resumed firing to repel an assaulting German platoon armed with automatic weapons. Finally, his ammunition supply being completely exhausted, he rejoined his company. Pfc. Knappenberger's intrepid action disrupted the enemy attack for over 2 hours.