Medal of Honor: Nicholas Oresko – World War II – Germany – January 1945

Name: Nicholas Oresko
Rank: Master Sergeant
Organization: U.S. Army
Unit: Company C, 302d Infantry Regiment, 94th Infantry Division
Place: Near Tettingen, Germany
Entered Service At: Bayonne, New Jersey
Born: Bayonne, New Jersey

Summary of Action

On 23 January 1945, Master Sergeant Nicholas Oresko was serving as a platoon leader with Company C during an assault against well-entrenched German positions near Tettingen, Germany. As his platoon advanced, intense automatic weapons fire from the flanks pinned the unit down and threatened to halt the attack.

Recognizing that the enemy machinegun positions had to be destroyed immediately, Master Sergeant Oresko moved forward alone under heavy fire. Braving bullets that struck all around him, he advanced to grenade range of the first bunker and hurled a grenade into the position. He then rushed the emplacement and killed the surviving occupants at point-blank range with his rifle.

Almost immediately, a second enemy machinegun opened fire, knocking him to the ground and seriously wounding him in the hip. Despite his wound, Master Sergeant Oresko refused evacuation. Instead, he returned to the head of his platoon and pressed the assault forward. Once again, he advanced alone under withering machinegun and rifle fire, assaulted a second bunker with a grenade, and then eliminated its defenders with rifle fire.

Although weakened by blood loss, Master Sergeant Oresko refused medical treatment until he was certain the mission had succeeded. His two single-handed attacks destroyed key enemy positions, killed 12 German soldiers, prevented a delay in the assault, and enabled Company C to seize its objective with minimal casualties.

Medal of Honor Citation

ORESKO, NICHOLAS
Rank and organization: Master Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 302d Infantry, 94th Infantry Division.
Place and date: Near Tettingen, Germany, 23 January 1945.
Entered service at: Bayonne, N.J.
Birth: Bayonne, N.J.
G.O. No.: 95, 30 October 1945.

Citation:
M/Sgt. Oresko was a platoon leader with Company C in an attack against strong enemy positions. Deadly automatic fire from the flanks pinned down his unit. Realizing that a machinegun in a nearby bunker must be eliminated, he swiftly worked ahead alone, braving bullets which struck about him, until close enough to throw a grenade into the German position. He rushed the bunker and, with pointblank rifle fire, killed all the hostile occupants who survived the grenade blast.

Another machinegun opened up on him, knocking him down and seriously wounding him in the hip. Refusing to withdraw from the battle, he placed himself at the head of his platoon to continue the assault. As withering machinegun and rifle fire swept the area, he struck out alone in advance of his men to a second bunker. With a grenade, he crippled the dug-in machinegun defending this position and then wiped out the troops manning it with his rifle, completing his second self-imposed, one-man attack.

Although weak from loss of blood, he refused to be evacuated until assured the mission was successfully accomplished. Through quick thinking, indomitable courage, and unswerving devotion to the attack in the face of bitter resistance and while wounded, M/Sgt. Oresko killed 12 Germans, prevented a delay in the assault, and made it possible for Company C to obtain its objective with minimum casualties.