Leroy M. Humiston

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal to Leroy M. Humiston (42121415), Sergeant, U.S. Army, for gallantry in action while serving as a Rifleman with Company F, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division. While his company was fighting through the Siegfried Line near Zweibrucken, Germany, on the morning of 19 March 1945, Sergeant Humiston ran 15 yards forward from a platoon skirmish line into direct machine gun and rifle fire to assault an active German pill box. To avoid bullets which were missing him by inches he dropped into a shallow furrow only ten yards in front of the fortification. Enemy attempts with hand grenades did not dislodge the determined Sergeant, who retaliated by throwing six fragmentation grenades into the bunker’s entrance ditch and followed this with M-1 rifle fire. His daring assault forced the four German occupants to abandon their machine gun and surrender.