Well, my dad was a wonderful man.
I had a wonderful childhood.
My dad was my hero. I loved the man.
I've realized more over time
that he was really looking out for all of us
and left us in a good place.
He was a really good man, in my opinion.
He really cared about other people,
and he was great at being
that kind of a stable dad.
A very kind,
loyal father and person.
I have many memories of him
working hard to help us,
but also other family members.
And he could definitely inspire you to do things.
He could also shut you down
with a stern look of his eye.
He was a pretty stern guy,
but he was just that way
with younger kids and children
just because he wanted the best for them.
You know, it wasn't a mean stern.
It was just military stern, the Colonel.
But that's a good thing.
It just teaches you some discipline,
you know, that you have to have a work ethic
and drive and motivation.
He was a lot of fun,
particularly in our early years.
He always set the example. He was firm.
He taught us to take responsibility for our actions
and sacrificed so much for us kids
so that we could have a wonderful childhood.
- His mom passed away in the flu epidemic
in 1919 when he was only four,
and his grandmother passed away, too.
- Before he finished high school,
his stepmother kicked him out of the house.
And so he lived with another family
and finished high school.
- At age 14, he left home
and went out and worked on a farm,
'cause that was 1929, when the depression hit.
Sent as much as he could, as he earned
back to his father to help support
the rest of the family,
working on this farm at age 14.
- I was always aware, from a very early age,
how much he cared for people
in his extended family who needed him.
- And I think that is so rooted
in what he had gone through in his life.
He had been attending North Dakota State University
and was just a few credits shy of graduating
at that point in time.
He felt that, you know, with his college education,
that he could be an officer.
So he applied to the Navy, the Marines, and the Army.
And they all turned him down
for an officer's commission
because he had this height issue.
He was only 5'4".
- But the Army Infantry took him as an enlisted man.
Dad was going to serve, by gosh.
Everyone at that time wanted to serve.
It was their patriotic duty.
I believe that is what motivated Dad.
- I would think he wanted to do his part.
- There's the war, there's the Nazis,
and we gotta go fight them.
I don't think any of them wanted to,
but they did, and they signed up and they went.
- his TAC officer saw a spark in Dad
and recognized it.
He said, "You need to go to OCS,
officers candidate school."
- In October of 1942,
he completed officers candidate school
and became a second lieutenant
in the United States Army.
September 22nd, 1944 was the day
that he had the fire fight that resulted
in him receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The day before, they had gotten to this town
in Northern Italy called Firenzuola.
And they had moved beyond the town
and they had attacked this entrenched hill position.
As the Americans advanced,
this German hilltop position was pinning them down,
and they got pinned down
just about a mile and a half out of Firenzuola.
So they attacked that day,
and there were some pretty heavy US casualties.
That night, my dad was called into the headquarter unit
and was told that he
was the only remaining first lieutenant
and that he would have to lead that same type
of attack up the hill the next day.
- Most of the other first lieutenants
were either disabled or killed
or just not able to do it.
He said, "I thought I was dead anyway.
I went to my commanding officer."
- And his company commander said,
"I need someone to perhaps try a different way
of getting access to this hill."
And a couple other soldiers volunteered to go with Dad.
- [Reader] "The Germans were definitely
not expecting company.
The hilltop was considered unapproachable
from a frontal attack due to the advantage
of their gun in-placements.
An attack from the rear,
little better than a sheer cliff,
was also impossible
by any sizeable number of troops.
But there the four of us were
after scaling the cliff
ready to peek and sneak into the enemy's lair."
- He left them behind a large rock.
There was a machine gun not far from it,
and Dad assaulted that machine gun.
He ran into it, firing his weapon from his hip,
taking the crew of the machine gun by surprise.
They fired at him, but it was wildfire
and they missed him, thank goodness.
- He grew up in the house speaking German.
And although he didn't really calculate it,
his initial response was to yell at them in German.
- [Reader] "Luckily I can speak fluent German.
It was the predominant language in my home
in my hometown in North Dakota.
The guttural sounds exploded
out of my mind and my mouth the madder I got."
- They were just dumbfounded and shocked.
They ran into this little room of this little building
and he followed them in and they surrendered.
- He went on by himself
to assault four other machine gun crews
and three of the buildings
that were up on top of that hill,
capturing that position
and taking out five machine guns.
- [David] The fifth and final nest,
they were able to liquidate that fifth nest
with hand grenades.
- [Reader] "We had no idea
how many more Germans were on the hilltop,
but all of a sudden, the German prisoners called out
to their unseen comrades to surrender.
Soldiers entrenched in the hills
climbed out of foxholes
and rushed forward to give themselves up.
70 prisoners were rounded up.
My sergeants and I didn't have a scratch."
- He said to my brother-in-law that,
after the thing, they asked,
"What did you do after that?"
He goes, "I sat down and chain-smoked
a pack of cigarettes."
You run at a machine gun nest,
that's a dangerous thing to do.
I used to joke, 'cause he was 5'1", and I was going,
"Dad, no wonder the Nazis couldn't shoot you.
You're too small."
- The medal was presented in February of 1945.
If you receive the Medal of Honor and you survive,
you're pulled out of combat.
And so he was flown back to the United States
and he was put on the hero war bond drive circuit
for a while, and then he was given time
to return to his hometown
in Streeter, North Dakota.
Dad came back to this reception
that his high school had for him.
And he met, at that time she was 23,
the new principal of his high school.
And three months later,
in June of 1945, they were married.
And that was my mom.
Later, in 1946, the Army did offer him
a captaincy, and he took that offer.
He stayed in the military after that
until 1970, when he retired.
I realized at a pretty young age
that my dad was something special
and a highly decorated war veteran,
but it probably wasn't until I was,
you know, 12 or 13 that I really read
about what he did and really started to comprehend.
I just wish I had more time as an adult with him.
- He was Dad. He wasn't a war hero.
I knew he was, but he was my dad.
- It's mind blowing because, again,
your dad's just a guy.
And maybe oftentimes you think,
"Does everybody have that in them?"
If you were put in similar circumstances
how would you react?
- [David] The medal is there for all who served
and all who sacrificed.
- [Robin] An act of self-sacrifice
to protect their fellow soldiers.
- And in particular, those that didn't come back.
- We're very proud of what he did.
It says a lot to me
about what some people are willing to do
to try to make the world a better place.
Fighting Nazis is a pretty righteous thing to do,
in my opinion.
- [Rae] A great deal of pride, of course,
and love and appreciation for what he went through.
- He'd said to me many times, he said,
"Robin, so many men
performed acts of valor
and never got recognized for it.
I was just doing my job."
And my dad never encouraged me to be in the military.
It's just something that I wanted to do.
And I'm sure it's because of the influence of my dad
and admiring his service.
What Dad did, it was awesome.
These men come down
and they tell the commander about that
and the fact that such a small group
was able to take out this defensive position.
It's above and beyond the call of duty.
- He taught me a lot about service
beyond just military service.
It's not what you do to serve,
it's just the fact that you serve.
You're fortunate, you've had things happen.
You're now in a position where you can give back,
and that's your duty and that's how you serve
and continue to serve.
The community, your family,
these are things that last in life.
The struggles that he had to go through,
he just wanted to make sure
that things were easier for the people that he loved.
(soft uplifting music)