Staff Sergeant Archer T. Gammon

Staff Sergeant Archer T. Gammon, Army Serial Number, 33156688, a squad leader with Company A, 9th Armored Infantry Battalion, on 11 January 1945, near Bastogne, Belgium, charged thirty yards through hip-deep snow to knock out a machine gun and its three-man crew with grenades, saving his platoon from being decimated and allowing it to continue its advance from an open field into some near-by-woods. The platoon’s advance through the woods had only begun when a machine gun supported by riflemen opened fire and a Tiger Royal tank sent 88 milimeter shells screaming at the unit from the left flank. Sergeant Gammon, disregarding all thoughts of personal safety, rushed forward, then cut to the left, crossing the width of the platoon’s skirmish line in an attempt to get within grenade range of the tank and its protecting foot troops. Intense fire was concentrated on him by riflemen and the machine gun emplaced near the tank. He charged the automatic weapon, wiped out its crew of four with grenades, and, with supreme daring, advanced to within twenty-five yards of the armored vehicle, killing two hostile infantrymen with rifle fire as he moved forward. The tank had started to withdraw, backing a short distance, then firing, backing some more, and then stopping to blast out another round, when the man whose single-handed relentless attack had put the ponderous machine on the defensive was struck and instantly killed by a direct hit from the Tiger Royal’s heavy gun. By his intrepidity and extreme devotion to the task of driving the enemy back no matter what the odds, Sergeant Gammon cleared the woods of German forces, for the tank continued to withdraw, leaving open the path for the gallant squad leader’s platoon. , Date of Award: 25 October, 1945 , Born: Chatham, Virginia, 11 September 1918