William A. Soderman

On December 17, 1944, Pfc. William A. Soderman of West Haven, serving in Company K, 9th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division and armed with a bazooka, defended a key road junction near Rocherath, Belgium, as a German artillery barrage pinned down troops around him. Facing five Mark V tanks, he stood up under heavy fire and dismantled the lead tank with a rocket. Near dawn, when five more tanks appeared, he ran along a ditch, jumped to the road in full view of the gunners, disabled the lead tank with a rocket, and forced the others to withdraw. He then fired another rocket that silenced the machine guns of a nearby German infantry platoon. After Company K was ordered to fall back under mounting enemy pressure and more tanks moved down the road, he again, fully exposed, disabled the lead tank with his last rocket. Before he could reach cover, machinegun bullets from the tank struck his right shoulder, and unarmed and seriously wounded, he dragged himself along a ditch to the American lines. For this display of intrepidity and heroism, he received the Congressional Medal of Honor at the White House on October 12, 1945.

West Haven, Connecticut · United States