War Hero

It was late 1944 in northern Italy. My great-uncle, Frank Drudge, was a soldier in the 85^th Infantry Division of the United States Army. The objective of his division was to push upwards through Italy into the “soft underbelly of the axis”.

His company had just received a new captain, who was new to the war. Consequently, he immediately ordered Frank, a squad leader, to take his men out on patrol.

“I tried to tell him it wasn’t as safe out there as he thought,” Frank said. But he insisted on a patrol to gather enemy intelligence.

Frank took his squad, consisting of eight men, and began moving away from American lines.

“We had gotten about as far as I wanted to go,” Frank said. “I felt it wasn’t safer to go any farther.”

Frank told his men to lie against a bank they had come to. They waited there until 0200 hours when they heard a group of Germans approaching.

“I told my men to wait behind the bank while I crawled forward to investigate. There was a little hole in the brush I crawled through, and I told my men to shoot anything that didn’t come back through that hole.”

When he got over the bank, Frank saw a patrol of 17 heavily armed Germans. Knowing they could not stand up to them in a fair fight, Frank ordered an ambush.

“I pulled out my grenades, and ordered my men to open fire with their rifles and grenades as soon as I had thrown mine.”

Frank lofted his grenade towards the Germans as his men threw grenades of their own, and followed this up with furious rifle fire. After a short firefight, the German patrol was quiet. Knowing they had already traveled deep into enemy territory, Frank chose not to advance and instead brought his patrol back to American lines.

The next day, advancing American soldiers found the bodies of 15 Germans were Frank’s squad had ambushed them the previous night. Only two of Frank’s men had been wounded, and none killed.

Frank was awarded the Bronze Star for his valor in combat. The Bronze Star is awarded for “bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service above and beyond the call of duty.” It is our nation’s fourth highest military honor. Like most medal recipients, Frank refuses to acknowledge that he did anything special.

“I was just doing my duty.”