My morning went down the drain (for reasons I’m not authorized to talk about) so I’m only getting to this now:
Francis Currey, American badass.
Here is his citation from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s website:
He was an automatic rifleman with the 3d Platoon defending a strong point near Malmedy, Belgium, on 21 December 1944, when the enemy launched a powerful attack. Overrunning tank destroyers and antitank guns located near the strong point, German tanks advanced to the 3d Platoon’s position, and, after prolonged fighting, forced the withdrawal of this group to a nearby factory. Sgt. Currey found a bazooka in the building and crossed the street to secure rockets meanwhile enduring intense fire from enemy tanks and hostile infantrymen who had taken up a position at a house a short distance away. In the face of small-arms, machinegun, and artillery fire, he, with a companion, knocked out a tank with 1 shot. Moving to another position, he observed 3 Germans in the doorway of an enemy-held house. He killed or wounded all 3 with his automatic rifle. He emerged from cover and advanced alone to within 50 yards of the house, intent on wrecking it with rockets. Covered by friendly fire, he stood erect, and fired a shot which knocked down half of 1 wall. While in this forward position, he observed 5 Americans who had been pinned down for hours by fire from the house and 3 tanks. Realizing that they could not escape until the enemy tank and infantry guns had been silenced, Sgt. Currey crossed the street to a vehicle, where he procured an armful of antitank grenades. These he launched while under heavy enemy fire, driving the tankmen from the vehicles into the house. He then climbed onto a half-track in full view of the Germans and fired a machinegun at the house. Once again changing his position, he manned another machinegun whose crew had been killed; under his covering fire the 5 soldiers were able to retire to safety. Deprived of tanks and with heavy infantry casualties, the enemy was forced to withdraw. Through his extensive knowledge of weapons and by his heroic and repeated braving of murderous enemy fire, Sgt. Currey was greatly responsible for inflicting heavy losses in men and material on the enemy, for rescuing 5 comrades, 2 of whom were wounded, and for stemming an attack which threatened to flank his battalion’s position.
He was 94. His death leaves two surviving recipients of the Medal of Honor from WWII.
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 10th, 2019 at 11:50 am and is filed under Heroism, History, Obits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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There’s a scene in Richard Matheson’s The Beardless Warriors where the protagonist carries out fairly similar actions.
And it’s a good novel.
And young snots wonder why such men saved the world from tyranny back then. Because none else could, and they were there. They ARE the men who did The Things.
Brave men, doing brave deeds. I am not saying that our nation doesn’t have people like that still, just that we had many more of them back then.
My son is a member of the U.S. Navy. He was due to get out in April, but his ship deployed then, and so he extended to go with his shipmates. He has a wife and a 9 year old daughter.
It was supposed to be a good will tour, but two weeks into the trip, they were re routed to the Gulf of Arabia, to help their aircraft carrier wing, the USS Abraham Lincoln, try to keep the Iranians in check, for they were saber rattling again.
My son called me late Monday night, telling me that he was back in the states. His ship had gone into port in Oman, and since him, as well as a few other of the crew were to get out soon, the Navy flew them home. He will get out in November, after 6 and one half years.
From what I have been able to gather, both from him, and mostly from the websites that the Navy has, things are pretty intense over there. And the military members are handling things pretty well. He did say that it was not only hot, in the desert, but humid, which was a surprise. He had been on deployment one other time, and was able to go to Europe, and into the Arctic circle.
I read about the fact that there are only 2 remaining medal of honor awardees from the second world war, and it makes me realize just how long ago it was, and yet how it seems like just yesterday, I was watching the evening news and hearing the count of the dead American soldiers in Vietnam, each day.
My son has gone to a couple of the WWII re enactments, and loved it, not so much for the play acting, but for the chance to sit down with some of the former military personnel from the war that make the time to attend, and just listen to the stories of training, and going to Europe, or to Papua, New Guinea, etc. He has a tremendous respect for those men, and women, and what they did for this nation.
no, we got tons of them left. they still come in all sizes and colors. You have to keep in mind that was a war of millions of men and our wars are so much smaller now. You get brave men everywhere. They haven’t gone away.
Mark you, I’m still waiting for the brave women. They’re out there.I’d be obliged if next time, we got it right. Not like the last time the US Army fucked it up.