Gino Merli was a 20 year old Private First Class with the 1st Infantry Division when he earned the Medal of Honor for standing fast when his company was over run by Germans in Belgium. 

An Italian-American and son of a coal miner from Pennsylvania, Merli landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day and later fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He feigned death and lay still when Germans prodded him with bayonets, only to return to his machine gun an attack the Germans.

Merli received the Medal of Honor on June 15, 1945, alongside three Marines whom I either wrote about previously or will write about later this month  – Everett Pope, Luther Skaggs and Carlton Rouh. I can only imagine the White House ceremony was meant to focus the American public’s mind on the upcoming invasion of Japan.