Curtis F. Shoup

Curtis F. Shoup was born on January 11, 1921, in Napanoch, New York, to Curtis K. Shoup and Georgia A. Shoup; his family then moved to Oswego County, New York, where his father was pastor of the North Scriba Baptist Church. Having been brought up in the town of Scriba, Shoup completed four years of secondary school and obtained his certificate from Oswego High School before taking a job as a commercial driver. On August 12, 1942, he joined the United States Army in Syracuse, New York, for the length of the war and was given the service number 32384415.

Shoup, who was assigned to Company I of the 346th Infantry Regiment in the 87th Infantry Division—referred to as the Golden Acorn Division—climbed to the rank of Staff Sergeant while serving as a squad leader. The 87th Division was sent to the European Theater of Operations in late November 1944. It took up active combat duties on December 6 as a result of operations carried out along the Saar River close to the German border. After the launch of the German Ardennes counteroffensive, the division was shifted rapidly north into Belgium, entering combat on December 29 to help relieve pressure on Bastogne.

When the offensive to drive the German forces out of the Ardennes area in early January 1945 was underway, Company I came under fire near the Belgian village of Tillet. On January 7, 1945, four days after the fighting had become intense and the temperature had dropped to sub-zero levels, the unit moved up a slope toward well-defended German positions. Because the ground was frozen and this stopped the soldiers from being able to dig foxholes for cover, the company was subjected to a heavy concentration of machine-gun, heavy mortar, and artillery fire. Seeing that it was essential to get rid of the main automatic weapon endangering his company, Staff Sergeant Shoup went forward by himself with his Browning Automatic Rifle.

After finding that direct rifle fire from a prone position at a distance of 75 yards was not working, Shoup got to his feet and advanced into direct enemy fire to attack the position. Even though he was hit many times by enemy bullets he kept on moving forward toward it, firing from the hip, before finally collapsing on the ground. He then managed to get back on his feet, wobbled close enough to throw a hand grenade into the machine-gun nest and destroyed the emplacement before dying from his injuries. The way he acted allowed his company to overcome the defense and take its objective.

Staff Sergeant Shoup was given the Medal of Honor posthumously pursuant to War Department General Orders No. 60, which was dated July 25, 1945. The full text of the official citation is as follows:

"On January 7, 1945, near Tillet, Belgium, his company attacked German troops on rising ground. Intense hostile machinegun fire pinned down and threatened to annihilate the American unit in an exposed position where frozen ground made it impossible to dig in for protection. Heavy mortar and artillery fire from enemy batteries was added to the storm of destruction falling on the Americans. Realizing that the machinegun must be silenced at all costs, S/Sgt. Shoup, armed with an automatic rifle, crawled to within 75 yards of the enemy emplacement. He found that his fire was ineffective from this position, and completely disregarding his own safety, stood up and grimly strode ahead into the murderous stream of bullets, firing his low-held weapon as he went. He was hit several times and finally was knocked to the ground. But he struggled to his feet and staggered forward until close enough to hurl a grenade, wiping out the enemy machinegun nest with his dying action. By his heroism, fearless determination, and supreme sacrifice, S/Sgt. Shoup eliminated a hostile weapon which threatened to destroy his company and turned a desperate situation into victory."

Apart from the Medal of Honor, Shoup was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal together with bronze service stars, and the World War II Victory Medal, as well as the Combat Infantryman Badge; recognition of his bravery by the Allied countries included the United Kingdom granting him the Military Medal on April 7, 1945, and Belgium bestowing upon him the Order of Leopold at the rank of Knight and the Croix de Guerre 1940 with Palm.

Staff Sergeant Shoup is buried in Lot 290 of the North Scriba Union Cemetery in Scriba, New York; in 1947 the United States Army named a transport ship, the USNS Sgt. Curtis F. Shoup (T-AG-175), after him and his Medal of Honor was later donated to the National Infantry Museum at Fort Moore, Georgia.