Ernest Herbert Dervishian

In roughly twenty-five minutes of fighting near Cisterna, Italy, Technical Sergeant Ernest Herbert Dervishian repeatedly advanced against German machine-gun positions, fought at close range with captured weapons, and helped force dozens of enemy soldiers into captivity. His actions on 23 May 1944 became one of the remarkable individual combat episodes of the Italian Campaign and earned the Richmond, Virginia lawyer the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration of the United States. The Army's official citation praised his "prodigious courage and combat skill," words that captured a battlefield performance in which Dervishian repeatedly chose to move forward while heavily outnumbered and under direct fire. U.S. Army Ernest Herbert Dervishian was born in Richmond, Virginia, on 10 August 1916, the son of Armenian immigrants Mary Juskalian Dervishian and Hagop Artin Dervishian, who operated a candy store. He attended Richmond public schools and the University of Richmond, where he initially pursued premedical studies before turning to law. Remarkably, he passed the Virginia bar examination in December 1937 before receiving his LL.B. from the university's T. C. Williams School of Law in June 1938. He then entered legal practice with his brother. Library of Virginia Dervishian's life changed on 12 September 1941, when he enlisted in the United States Army. Assigned to the 135th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division, he rose rapidly through the enlisted ranks. His regiment reached Northern Ireland for training in 1942, and by May he had become a sergeant. He subsequently deployed to North Africa, fought through the Tunisian Campaign, and was promoted to staff sergeant in June 1943. The 34th Infantry Division then moved into Italy, landing in the Salerno area that September and beginning the difficult advance north through the Italian peninsula. Library of Virginia By the spring of 1944, Dervishian was a Technical Sergeant in Company B, 135th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division. That unit identification is important because some later secondary references incorrectly give the 133rd Infantry. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society identifies him specifically with Company B, 135th Infantry. Congressional Medal of Honor Society On 23 May 1944, during the Allied breakout from the Anzio beachhead near Cisterna, Dervishian and four soldiers found themselves well ahead of their company after advancing through artillery and sniper fire. At a German-held railroad embankment, he ordered his men to cover him and went forward alone. Firing his carbine, he forced ten German soldiers to surrender, while his men captured another fifteen from nearby dugouts. When nine more Germans were seen fleeing across a ridge, Dervishian dashed ahead and captured the group before his companions could catch up. Congressional Medal of Honor Society The fighting intensified inside a dense vineyard. A German machine gun firing from only about fifteen yards pinned down Dervishian's group. He feigned death as rounds passed over him, then attacked during a pause in the firing with a grenade and carbine, forcing the four-man crew to surrender. When another machine gun killed one American soldier and wounded another, Dervishian ordered his men back but remained forward himself. He took control of a captured German machine gun and a machine pistol and fired in two directions at once, compelling five Germans in each position to surrender. Still advancing alone, he attacked another position beside a house and forced six more enemy soldiers to give themselves up. The official Medal of Honor citation records a succession of captures that accounted for more than fifty German prisoners during the action. Congressional Medal of Honor Society Dervishian continued fighting through the Italian Campaign and participated in the liberation of Rome in June 1944. In July he received a battlefield commission as a second lieutenant. For his actions near Cisterna, the Medal of Honor was formally authorized in War Department General Orders No. 3, dated 8 January 1945. Four days later, on 12 January 1945, General Mark W. Clark presented the Medal of Honor to Dervishian at Piamaggio, Italy. Library of Virginia His wartime record extended beyond the Medal of Honor. A near-contemporary 1952 account records that Dervishian also received the Bronze Star Medal, which he explained had followed his award of the Combat Infantryman Badge rather than a separate individual act of valor. Army regulations recognize the World War II practice of retroactively awarding the Bronze Star Medal on the basis of the Combat Infantryman Badge. Tert r600_8_22 His documented service also supports the American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and World War II Victory Medal in the reconstructed ribbon rack. Army regulations place those service medals in that sequence. r600_8_22 The European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal is represented with one silver service star, denoting five campaign credits. Dervishian's service is associated with Tunisia, Naples-Foggia, Anzio, Rome-Arno, and North Apennines. Army regulations prescribe one silver service star in place of five bronze campaign stars. FlipHTML5 r600_8_22 Dervishian also received important Allied decorations. Contemporary evidence records a Polish Silver Cross, and a Polish historical recipient register specifically names Second Lieutenant Ernest Dervishian among Allied recipients of Virtuti Militari, Class V, the Silver Cross of Poland's War Order of Virtuti Militari. Wspólnota Polska The same contemporary account records an Italian Military Valor Cross, the decoration identified in the reconstructed rack as the Croce di Guerra al Valor Militare, or War Cross for Military Valor. His daughter later independently recalled that her father had received both the Polish Silver Cross and Italy's Military Valor Cross. Tert Returning to Richmond in late January 1945, Dervishian discovered that his hometown intended to celebrate him on a scale he had never expected. On 1 February 1945, Richmond observed "Dervishian Day." City offices, schools, and many businesses closed early, dignitaries attended a formal ceremony, and a parade reportedly drew approximately 30,000 spectators. Yet Dervishian consistently redirected attention toward other servicemen. Speaking about his survival and recognition, he emphasized that many others had performed acts equal to his but had not been as fortunate. Library of Virginia He returned to active duty later in February and served at posts in Oregon and Maryland. By September 1945 he had been promoted to First Lieutenant and placed on terminal leave. He returned to Richmond the following month and was formally discharged from active service in November. His connection to the Army did not end there. He continued serving in the United States Army Reserve, including work as a staff judge advocate, and ultimately retired as a Colonel in 1968. Library of Virginia Civilian life brought Dervishian back to the profession he had left in 1941. He resumed law practice, served as a National Vice Commander of the American Legion in 1946 and 1947, and became an assistant Commonwealth's attorney for Richmond in July 1947. He remained in that position until December 1959, when he returned to private practice. His public standing endured long after World War II. In 1972, Virginia's governor included him among thirty-five Virginians honored for outstanding national achievement. Library of Virginia Ernest Herbert Dervishian died in Richmond on 20 May 1984, following a short illness. He was 67 years old and was buried at Westhampton Memorial Park in Henrico County, Virginia. From a young Richmond attorney to a technical sergeant fighting through Tunisia and Italy, from the vineyard at Cisterna to retirement as an Army Reserve colonel, Dervishian's life joined professional service with extraordinary battlefield courage. His Medal of Honor citation records what he did on one violent day in May 1944, but his later words reveal how he understood it: not as a reason to elevate himself, but as an opportunity to remember the soldiers who had fought beside him and those who never returned.