Photo: Southwestern Pennsylvania War Heroes

Photographer: Mike Wintermantel
Taken: May 14, 2014
Caption: Southwestern Pennsylvania War Heroes
Additional Description: Two area natives received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration, for their actions during World War II. Both awards carried an additional level of distinction: Technical Sergeant Charles E. "Commando" Kelly of Pittsburgh's North Side was the first enlisted awardee to be cited for service on the European continent, while First Sergeant Leonard Funk, from Braddock Hills, was the war's most decorated U.S. paratrooper.

In September 1943 in Italy, Sergeant Kelly volunteered to attack enemy machine gun nests. Armed with a Browning automatic rifle, he took out two of them and held their positions overnight. He wiped out another nest the following morning and, although surrounded, killed another 40, throwing grenades and mortar shells after running out of ammunition for his primary weapon. His mission ended when, after covering his comrades' retreat with a bazooka, he followed them emptying a commandeered 37mm gun as he ran.

Sergeant Funk's wartime heroics peaked in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge. There, he assembled 30 American previously assigned to non-combat duties, led them to capture a strategic village and 80 Germans who he left under guard to continue his attack. Sergeant Funk and a fellow soldier returned to find the village retaken and its captives freed. Surrounded and at gunpoint, he managed to unleash his automatic weapon and began firing. Less than a minute later, his casualty count was 21 dead and 24 wounded. The surviving Germans surrendered for a second time.
Submitted: May 14, 2014, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Database Locator Identification Number: p273343
File Size: 1.890 Megabytes

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