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Charles H. Coolidge MoH

Discussion in 'WWII Obituaries' started by GRW, Apr 9, 2021.

  1. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    "On April 6, the nation’s oldest Medal of Honor recipient, Charles H. Coolidge, died at the age of 99.
    The unassuming and quiet Coolidge passed peacefully while surrounded by family at his namesake, the Charles H. Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
    With the death of Coolidge, Herschel 'Woody' Williams, 97, who was awarded the nation’s highest decoration for his actions on Iwo Jima, is now the Medal’s oldest surviving recipient.
    Born on August 4, 1921, Coolidge was drafted into the military in 1942 and assigned to Company M of the 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Division. Formed in 1917 and composed largely of Texas National Guard troops, the outfit was aptly dubbed the “Texas” division.
    Sgt. Coolidge saw action in North Africa and Italy with the 36th before transferring to France in 1944. In the fall of that year, Coolidge found himself in charge of alarmingly green troops — replacements for those killed and wounded from the bloody slog through France. Almost none of the new arrivals had seen combat.
    Despite their inexperience, “his unit was nevertheless ordered to hold off the German forces threatening to attack the right flank of the division’s Third Battalion, 141st Infantry, which was massing with two other battalions outside the tiny town of Belmont-sur-Buttant,” according to the Times.
    On October 24, 1944, the 23-year-old Coolidge and about 30 soldiers under his command found themselves desperately outnumbered, facing down a swarm of German troops supported by tanks.
    Amid rain and dense woods, Coolidge attempted “to bluff the Germans by a show of assurance and boldness called upon them to surrender, whereupon the enemy opened fire,” his citation reads
    The firefight marked the first time many of his men had ever engaged the enemy.
    Over the course of four days of continuous fighting, the Americans repeatedly repulsed the numerically superior enemy."
    www.historynet.com/nations-oldest-medal-of-honor-recipient-dies-at-99.htm?fbclid=IwAR3o9DaKwioc5FvMiUDntHtz_eF5J5rvB06LcT05BwcfCfLjwQi5BZdZN9k
     
    TD-Tommy776, Takao and CAC like this.
  2. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    R.I.P. Charles. You very brave man.
     
  3. Thumpalumpacus

    Thumpalumpacus Active Member

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    <presents arms>
     
  4. bronk7

    bronk7 Well-Known Member

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    ...he and many others probably deserved more MOHs, considering all the action they participated in
     

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