Charles Andrew MacGillivary

Charles MacGillivary charged four German machine-gun nests in the snow at Woelfling

On January 1, 1945, Sergeant Charles Andrew MacGillivary saw his company pinned down by German machine-gun fire near Woelfling, France. With his unit’s advance stopped and other men exposed to the guns, he volunteered to attack the positions alone. He moved through snow and trees, closed to a few feet of the first emplacement, and kept going until four enemy guns were out of action. A machine gun seriously wounded him during the last attack, but his assault helped his company continue its mission with fewer casualties. For that one-man patrol, MacGillivary received the Medal of Honor.

MacGillivary was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, on January 7, 1917. At 16, he moved to Boston to live with his brother and later sailed on North Atlantic merchant ships. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and became a citizen during basic training. He served with Company I, 71st Infantry Regiment, 44th Infantry Division, and landed at Omaha Beach during the Normandy invasion. By the winter of 1944–45, his division had fought across France to the German border, where the Battle of the Bulge brought another German offensive against the Allied line.

At Woelfling, casualties among the officers left MacGillivary in charge of his company. He first moved around the left flank through woods and snow and shot the camouflaged gunners in a forward position. Later, sent to scout the opposition, he found his company facing several machine guns and returned to attack again. He silenced one crew with a grenade, seized a submachine gun from the battlefield, and rushed a second position after its crew spotted him. At another nest he threw a grenade and closed with the defenders. The citation credits him with destroying four machine guns and helping the company press on. He suffered severe wounds and lost his left arm, then recovered in hospital.

President Harry S. Truman presented MacGillivary with the Medal of Honor at the White House on August 23, 1945. The award recognized not a single dash alone, but the initiative and persistence with which he repeatedly exposed himself to fire to clear a path for his fellow soldiers. MacGillivary later returned to Boston, married Esther, and raised three daughters. He joined the U.S. Customs Service in 1950, became an investigator, and retired in 1975. He also served as president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society from 1973 to 1975, helping search for other immigrant recipients of the nation’s highest award for valor. He died in Massachusetts on June 24, 2000, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The U.S. Department of Defense recounts MacGillivary’s journey from Charlottetown and the Merchant Marine to the Army, his Battle of the Bulge action, and his later veterans’ work. The National Medal of Honor Museum preserves the official citation below; the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services history confirms the 1945 White House presentation and his later Customs Service career.

**Medal of Honor citation**

“He led a squad when his unit moved forward in darkness to meet the threat of a breakthrough by elements of the 17th German Panzer Grenadier Division. Assigned to protect the left flank, he discovered hostile troops digging in. As he reported this information, several German machineguns opened fire, stopping the American advance. Knowing the position of the enemy, Sgt. MacGillivary volunteered to knock out 1 of the guns while another company closed in from the right to assault the remaining strong points. He circled from the left through woods and snow, carefully worked his way to the emplacement and shot the 2 camouflaged gunners at a range of 3 feet as other enemy forces withdrew. Early in the afternoon of the same day, Sgt. MacGillivary was dispatched on reconnaissance and found that Company I was being opposed by about 6 machineguns reinforcing a company of fanatically fighting Germans. His unit began an attack but was pinned down by furious automatic and small arms fire. With a clear idea of where the enemy guns were placed, he voluntarily embarked on a lone combat patrol. Skillfully taking advantage of all available cover, he stalked the enemy, reached a hostile machinegun and blasted its crew with a grenade. He picked up a submachine gun from the battlefield and pressed on to within 10 yards of another machinegun, where the enemy crew discovered him and feverishly tried to swing their weapon into line to cut him down. He charged ahead, jumped into the midst of the Germans and killed them with several bursts. Without hesitation, he moved on to still another machinegun, creeping, crawling, and rushing from tree to tree, until close enough to toss a grenade into the emplacement and close with its defenders. He dispatched this crew also, but was himself seriously wounded. Through his indomitable fighting spirit, great initiative, and utter disregard for personal safety in the face of powerful enemy resistance, Sgt. MacGillivary destroyed four hostile machineguns and immeasurably helped his company to continue on its mission with minimum casualties.”

**Sources:** [U.S. Department of Defense biography](https://www.war.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/3627607/medal-of-honor-monday-army-tech-sgt-charles-macgillivary/); [National Medal of Honor Museum recipient record and citation](https://mohmuseum.org/recipient/macgillivary-charles-andrew); [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services biography](https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-a-uscis-office/uscis-facilities-dedicated-to-the-memory-of-immigrant-medal-of-honor-recipients/sgt-charles-a-macgillivary).