Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company G,
169th Infantry, 43d Infantry Division. Place and date:
Pangasinan Province, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 12 January 1945.
Entered service at: Altoona, Pa. Birth: Altoona, Pa. G.O. No.:
77, 10 September 1945. Citation... He led the assault squad
when Company G attacked enemy hill positions. The enemy force, estimated
to be a reinforced infantry company, was well supplied with machineguns,
ammunition, grenades, and blocks of TNT and could be attacked only
across a narrow ridge 70 yards long. At the end of this ridge an enemy
pillbox and rifle positions were set in rising ground. Covered by his
squad, S/Sgt Laws traversed the hogback through vicious enemy fire until
close to the pillbox, where he hurled grenades at the fortification. |
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Enemy
grenades wounded him, but he persisted in his assault until 1 of
his missiles found its mark and knocked out the pillbox. With
more grenades, passed to him by members of his squad who had
joined him, he led the attack on the entrenched riflemen. In the
advance up the hill, he suffered additional wounds in both arms
and legs, about the body and in the head, as grenades and TNT
charges exploded near him. Three Japs rushed him with fixed
bayonets, and he emptied the magazine of his machine pistol at
them, killing 2. He closed in hand-to-hand combat with the
third, seizing the Jap's rifle as he met the onslaught. The 2
fell to the ground and rolled some 50 or 60 feet down a bank.
When the dust cleared the Jap lay dead and the valiant American
was climbing up the hill with a large gash across the head. He
was given first aid and evacuated from the area while his squad
completed the destruction of the enemy position. S/Sgt. Laws'
heroic actions provided great inspiration to his comrades, and
his courageous determination, in the face of formidable odds and
while suffering from multiple wounds, enabled them to secure an
important objective with minimum casualties. | |
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