Medal of Honor: Sherwood H. Hallman, World War II, September 13, 1944

Sherwood H. Hallman

War: World War II
Date of Action: September 13, 1944
Unit: Company F, 175th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division
Born: October 27, 1913 – Spring City, Pennsylvania

The fortified city of Brest in Brittany, France, was one of the hardest German strongholds to crack. Its defenses were elaborate, its garrison determined. For three long days, the 2nd Battalion of the 175th Infantry Regiment hammered at a key enemy position that barred the way forward. Time and again, the battalion threw its weight at the defenses, and time and again the Germans threw them back with machinegun fire, mortars, and riflemen hidden behind hedgerows and sunken lanes. Progress stalled, casualties mounted, and the stalemate threatened to choke off the advance.

Then one man changed everything.

Staff Sergeant Sherwood H. Hallman, leading his squad in Company F, recognized that hesitation meant death and that someone had to break the deadlock. Ordering his squad to cover him, he vaulted over a hedgerow and dropped into the very heart of the German position: a sunken road bristling with rifles, fortified by a machinegun, and defended by thirty seasoned enemy soldiers. Alone, under fire from all sides, Hallman unleashed a storm. His carbine spat fire, grenades arced into dugouts, and four of the enemy fell immediately. He then did the unthinkable—he ordered the survivors to surrender. Twelve Germans dropped their weapons on the spot.

The effect was electric. Seeing the collapse of their strongpoint, seventy-five more enemy soldiers in the vicinity gave up. What three days of battalion attacks and heavy supporting fire could not accomplish, one sergeant achieved in minutes with raw courage and unshakable will. Hallman’s daring opened the way for the entire battalion to surge forward nearly 2,000 yards and seize positions that led directly to the capture of Fort Keranroux later that day.

Sherwood Hallman never lived to tell the story. He fell in the battle for Brest only weeks later, but his moment of audacity ensured his name would be etched in history. His Medal of Honor recognizes not just an extraordinary feat of arms, but a single-handed act of leadership that broke open a fortress city and inspired his comrades to victory.

Medal of Honor Citation
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. On 13 September 1944, in Brittany, France, the 2d Battalion in its attack on the fortified city of Brest was held up by a strongly defended enemy position which had prevented its advance despite repeated attacks extending over a 3-day period. Finally, Company F advanced to within several hundred yards of the enemy position but was again halted by intense fire. Realizing that the position must be neutralized without delay, S/Sgt. Hallman ordered his squad to cover his movements with fire while he advanced alone to a point from which he could make the assault. Without hesitating, S/Sgt. Hallman leaped over a hedgerow into a sunken road, the central point of the German defenses which was known to contain an enemy machinegun position and at least 30 enemy riflemen. Firing his carbine and hurling grenades, S/Sgt. Hallman, unassisted, killed or wounded 4 of the enemy, then ordered the remainder to surrender. Immediately, 12 of the enemy surrendered and the position was shortly secured by the remainder of his company. Seeing the surrender of this position, about 75 of the enemy in the vicinity surrendered, yielding a defensive organization which the battalion with heavy supporting fires had been unable to take. This single heroic act on the part of S/Sgt. Hallman resulted in the immediate advance of the entire battalion for a distance of 2,000 yards to a position from which Fort Keranroux was captured later the same day. S/Sgt. Hallman’s fighting determination and intrepidity in battle exemplify the highest tradition of the U.S. Armed Forces.