Please join me, this afternoon, in remembering Ralph Neppel, who earned the Medal of Honor on this day, 79 years ago, when he stayed in the fight, manning his machine gun, after his legs had been blown off by a German rocket.

From the 83rd Infantry Division’s combat history: “[The division’s most] distinguished hero of World War II was Sergeant Ralph G. Neppel of Gilden, Iowa…  a machine-gun leader who calmly ignored a German tank about to overrun his position. A shell blew off his left leg, but the sergeant held his position and, with grenades, wiped out 20 Germans.”

“A German commander found 19-year-old Neppel lying in the snow, and, either as a favor to a horribly wounded man, or in anger, because the American had killed so many Germans, he shot Neppel in the head. Neppel was wounded and left for dead; apparently the bullet was deflected by his helmet. The next morning he had to be chipped out of the ice and snow. The bullet left only a slight scar.”

Neppel received the Medal of Honor from Harry Truman on August 23, 1945. He returned to Iowa, farmed, earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees, and got married, before passing away in 1987. Please honor and remember this great American!