Name: Jack L. Treadwell
Rank: Captain
Branch: U.S. Army
Unit: Company F, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division
Place: Near Nieder-Wurzbach, Germany
Entered Service At: Snyder, Oklahoma
Born: Ashland, Alabama
G.O. No.: 79, 14 September 1945
Summary of Action
Near the Siegfried Line at Nieder-Wurzbach, Germany, Capt. Jack L. Treadwell’s company was pinned down for hours by intense enemy fire from a fortified hill lined with pillboxes and trenches.
An earlier assault had failed—eight men sent forward had all become casualties.
With his company stalled and exposed, Treadwell armed himself with a submachine gun and grenades and advanced alone.
Crossing open ground swept by machinegun and rifle fire, he attacked the first pillbox, firing into its firing port before closing the distance and throwing grenades. Reaching the position, he forced four Germans to surrender and found another dead inside.
Without pause, he drove on to the next position, capturing it in the same aggressive manner—including the commander of the hill’s defenses.
Under relentless fire, he continued his assault, crossing the crest of the hill in full view of enemy gunners and snipers to attack a third pillbox—and take it.
His relentless momentum shattered the enemy’s cohesion. In rapid succession, he overran three more pillboxes, capturing prisoners and throwing the defenders into confusion.
Inspired by his one-man assault, the men of Company F surged forward, overwhelming the remaining resistance and breaking through the fortified line.
Medal of Honor Citation
TREADWELL, JACK L.
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army, Company F, 180th Infantry, 45th Infantry Division.
Place and date: Near Nieder-Wurzbach, Germany, 18 March 1945.
Entered service at: Snyder, Okla.
Birth: Ashland, Ala.
G.O. No.: 79, 14 September 1945.
Citation:
Capt. Treadwell (then 1st Lt.), commanding officer of Company F, near Nieder-Wurzbach, Germany, in the Siegfried Line, single-handedly captured 6 pillboxes and 18 prisoners. Murderous enemy automatic and rifle fire with intermittent artillery bombardments had pinned down his company for hours at the base of a hill defended by concrete fortifications and interlocking trenches. Eight men sent to attack a single point had all become casualties on the bare slope when Capt. Treadwell, armed with a submachine gun and handgrenades, went forward alone to clear the way for his stalled company. Over terrain devoid of cover and swept by bullets, he fearlessly advanced, firing at the aperture of the nearest pillbox and, when within range, hurling grenades at it. He reached the pillbox, thrust the muzzle of his gun through the port, and drove 4 Germans out with their hands in the air. A fifth was found dead inside. Waving these prisoners back to the American line, he continued under terrible, concentrated fire to the next pillbox and took it in the same manner. In this fort he captured the commander of the hill defenses, whom he sent to the rear with the other prisoners. Never slackening his attack, he then ran across the crest of the hill to a third pillbox, traversing this distance in full view of hostile machine gunners and snipers. He was again successful in taking the enemy position. The Germans quickly fell prey to his further rushes on 3 more pillboxes in the confusion and havoc caused by his whirlwind assaults and capture of their commander. Inspired by the electrifying performance of their leader, the men of Company F stormed after him and overwhelmed resistance on the entire hill, driving a wedge into the Siegfried Line and making it possible for their battalion to take its objective. By his courageous willingness to face nearly impossible odds and by his overwhelming one-man offensive, Capt. Treadwell reduced a heavily fortified, seemingly impregnable enemy sector.
Name: Jack L. Treadwell
