Rank and organization: Private
First Class, U.S. Army, Co. C, 325th Glider Infantry, 82d
Airborne Division. Place and date: Merderet River at la Fiere,
France, 9 June 1944. Entered service at: Grand Island, N.Y.
Birth: Grand Island, N.Y. G.O. No.: 22, 28 February 1946.
Citation... He was a member of Company C, 325th Glider Infantry,
on 9 June 1944 advancing with the forward platoon to secure a
bridgehead across the Merderet River at La Fiere, France. At
dawn the platoon had penetrated an outer line of machineguns and
riflemen, but in so doing had become cut off from the rest of
the company. Vastly superior forces began a decimation of the
stricken unit and put in motion a flanking maneuver which would
have completely exposed the American platoon in a shallow
roadside ditch where it had taken cover. |
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Detecting this danger,
Pfc. DeGlopper volunteered to support his comrades by fire from
his automatic rifle while they attempted a withdrawal through a
break in a hedgerow 40 yards to the rear. Scorning a
concentration of enemy automatic weapons and rifle fire, he
walked from the ditch onto the road in full view of the Germans,
and sprayed the hostile positions with assault fire. He was
wounded, but he continued firing. Struck again, he started to
fall; and yet his grim determination and valiant fighting spirit
could not be broken. Kneeling in the roadway, weakened by his
grievous wounds, he leveled his heavy weapon against the enemy
and fired burst after burst until killed outright. He was
successful in drawing the enemy action away from his fellow
soldiers, who continued the fight from a more advantageous
position and established the first bridgehead over the Merderet.
In the area where he made his intrepid stand his comrades later
found the ground strewn with dead Germans and many machineguns
and automatic weapons which he had knocked out of action. Pfc.
DeGlopper's gallant sacrifice and unflinching heroism while
facing unsurmountable odds were in great measure responsible for
a highly important tactical victory in the Normandy Campaign. | |
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