Wilburn K. Ross was honored for receiving the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 30 October 1944 near St. Jacques, France. After his unit, Company G, 30th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division, lost 55 of 88 men in an attack on an entrenched German company of elite mountain troops, Pvt. Ross placed his light machine gun 10 yards in advance of the foremost supporting riflemen to absorb the impact of an enemy counterattack. With machine-gun and small-arms fire striking the earth near him, he fired with deadly effect and repelled the assaulting force. Despite automatic fire and exploding rifle grenades near his position, he continued to man his machine gun alone and held off six more German attacks. When the eighth assault began and most of his supporting riflemen were out of ammunition, Pvt. Ross fought on virtually alone as enemy grenadiers crawled to within 4 yards of his position. After expending his last rounds, he was advised to withdraw with the eight surviving riflemen, but he refused. As the Germans launched a final all-out attack to destroy the machine gun standing between them and a decisive breakthrough, fresh ammunition arrived, and just as the enemy was about to swarm his position, he opened fire, broke the assault single-handedly, and forced the Germans to withdraw. Through more than five hours of continuous combat, he saved the remnants of his company from destruction. Ross retired from the U.S. Army in 1964 and lived in DuPont.