On May 23, 1944, near Anzio, Italy,S/Sgt. George J. Hall's company of the 135th IR/34th ID was pinned down by grazing fire from 3 enemy machineguns and harassing sniper fire. S/Sgt. Hall volunteered to eliminate these obstacles in the path of advance.
Crawling along a plowed furrow through furious machinegun fire, he made his way to a point within hand grenade range of 1 of the enemy positions. He pounded the enemy with 4 hand grenades, and when the smoke had died away, S/Sgt. Hall and 2 dead Germans occupied the position, while 4 of the enemy were crawling back to our lines as prisoners.
Discovering a quantity of German potato-masher grenades in the position, S/Sgt. Hall engaged the second enemy nest in a deadly exchange of grenades. Each time he exposed himself to throw a grenade, the Germans fired machinegun bursts at him. The vicious duel finally ended in S/Sgt. Hall's favor with 5 of the enemy surrendered and 5 others lay dead. Turning his attention to the third machinegun, S/Sgt. Hall left his position and crawled along a furrow, the enemy firing frantically in an effort to halt him. As he neared his final objective, an enemy artillery concentration fell on the area, and S/Sgt. Hall's was severely wounded. His left leg was shattered and his right leg was blown open. Still under fire, he began to amputate his own leg with his sheath knife, applied a tourniquet, and crawled back to friendly lines. The 3rd enemy position was eventually taken out during a flanking mission and his actions helped pave a way for the Allies to advance.
S/Sgt. Hall was awarded the Medal of Honor at the age of 23.
Due to complications of his wounds, he passed away in 1946 and he's buried in Saint Patrick Cemetery, Stoneham, MA. #Hero #badass #zerofucks #nofucks #stayzero #ww2 #greatestgeneration