Alvin P. Carey

He silenced a German pillbox despite being mortally wounded.

Alvin P. Carey was a United States Army staff sergeant who received the Medal of Honor for a lone attack on a German strongpoint near Plougastel, France. He was born in Lycippus, Pennsylvania, on 16 August 1916 and grew up in nearby Laughlintown. After graduating from Ligonier Valley High School in 1935, he worked in farming and construction before enlisting in the Army on 24 January 1941.

Carey trained with the infantry and married Anna Mae Ankney before going into combat. Serving with the 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, he landed in Normandy on 7 June 1944. He was wounded about a month later, received the Purple Heart and returned to the front.

On 23 August 1944, his company was attacking Hill 154 near Plougastel in Brittany. A fortified German pillbox stopped the advance with machine-gun fire. Carey moved his machine-gun section forward, armed himself with grenades and a carbine, and crawled toward the position alone. After advancing roughly 150 yards, he encountered and killed a German rifleman, then continued until he was close enough to throw grenades into the pillbox.

Enemy fire mortally wounded him, but he continued the attack. One grenade entered the opening and exploded, killing the defenders and silencing their guns. His company's riflemen then occupied the position and overcame the remaining resistance. Carey died that day, a week after his twenty-eighth birthday.

The Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously under War Department General Orders No. 37 of 11 May 1945. President Harry S. Truman presented it to Carey's widow on 21 May. Initially buried in France, Carey was returned to Pennsylvania in 1948 and reinterred in Ligonier Valley Cemetery. The Carey Theater at Fort Lewis, Washington, was named in his memory.

Full Medal of Honor citation:

“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, 23 August 1944. SSgt. Carey, leader of a machine-gun section, was advancing with his company in the attack on the strongly held enemy hill 154, near Plougastel, Brittany, France. The advance was held up when the attacking units were pinned down by intense enemy machine-gun fire from a pillbox 200 yards up the hill. From his position covering the right flank, SSgt. Carey displaced his guns to an advanced position and then, upon his own initiative, armed himself with as many hand grenades as he could carry and without regard for his personal safety started alone up the hill toward the pillbox. Crawling forward under its withering fire, he proceeded 150 yards when he met a German rifleman whom he killed with his carbine. Continuing his steady forward movement until he reached grenade-throwing distance, he hurled his grenades at the pillbox-opening in the face of intense enemy fire which wounded him mortally. Undaunted, he gathered his strength and continued his grenade attack until one entered and exploded within the pillbox, killing the occupants and putting their guns out of action. Inspired by SSgt. Carey's heroic act, the riflemen quickly occupied the position and overpowered the remaining enemy resistance in the vicinity.”