*DEGLOPPER, CHARLES N.
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.
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.
