Floyd Kenneth Lindstrom

On a rocky hillside near Mignano, Italy, Floyd Kenneth Lindstrom carried a heavy machine gun forward through enemy fire, fought a German machine-gun position at close range, charged it with a pistol, killed its two gunners, captured their weapon, and then went back under fire for ammunition. His actions on 11 November 1943 helped break a German counterattack and earned him the Medal of Honor, the United States' highest military decoration. Lindstrom never lived to receive it. Less than three months later, he was killed in action at Anzio.

Floyd Kenneth Lindstrom was born on 21 June 1912 in Holdrege, Nebraska. In 1915, his mother, Anna Lindstrom, moved Floyd and his older sister Pauline to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she found employment at the Myron Stratton Home. The family lived in a cottage on the institution's grounds, and Lindstrom spent much of his youth there. He played basketball, participated in the Boy Scouts, worked summers on the Stratton ranch, and held a job as a soda jerk. He graduated from Cheyenne Mountain High School in 1931.

After leaving school, Lindstrom worked for H. M. Sommers Market as a long-haul truck driver, transporting produce between Colorado Springs and California. The work suited a young man remembered for reliability, physical strength, and an independent character. His civilian life changed dramatically during the Second World War, and on 22 June 1942, one day after his thirtieth birthday, Lindstrom enlisted in the United States Army.

Lindstrom completed heavy-weapons training at Camp Roberts, California, and was assigned to Company H, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. As a machine gunner, he served overseas with one of the U.S. Army's most heavily engaged infantry divisions, campaigning through North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. His courage was recognized even before the action that would make his name part of Medal of Honor history.

On 12 July 1943 during the Sicilian campaign, Lindstrom's section was moving by truck to establish machine-gun outposts when the convoy came under attack from four enemy aircraft. During the confusion, an unattended truck began rolling downhill toward a soldier who apparently did not see it coming. Lindstrom left cover while the aircraft continued strafing and bombing overhead, reached the moving vehicle, and guided it into a bank. His action saved the soldier and prevented the destruction of a truck carrying a heavy machine gun and ammunition needed for the section's mission.

For that act, Lindstrom received the Silver Star for gallantry in action, announced in Headquarters, 3rd Infantry Division, General Orders No. 56, dated 19 August 1943. The official award citation emphasized that he acted with disregard for his own safety and that his intervention saved both a fellow soldier and essential combat equipment.

Four months later came the action for which Floyd Lindstrom would receive the Medal of Honor.

On 11 November 1943 near Mignano, Italy, Lindstrom's machine-gun platoon was supporting a rifle company when German forces launched a counterattack. The riflemen and part of the machine-gun platoon were forced back, leaving Lindstrom's small section isolated and badly outnumbered. Rather than withdraw, he positioned his remaining men and opened fire with his single machine gun while enemy machine guns, machine pistols, grenades, and small arms concentrated on his position.

Unable to destroy an enemy machine-gun position from where he was fighting, Lindstrom lifted his heavy machine gun and carried it about fifteen yards forward across exposed rocky ground. From approximately ten yards away he engaged the German weapon directly. When the enemy gunners remained protected behind a large rock, Lindstrom changed tactics. He charged uphill under fire, killed both gunners with his pistol, seized their machine gun, and dragged it back to his own position so his men could turn the captured weapon against the attackers.

He was still not finished. Lindstrom returned through heavy rifle fire to the captured German position and recovered two boxes of ammunition. He made his way back to his own gun and resumed firing. According to his official Medal of Honor citation, his actions completely disrupted the German counterattack. His conduct was recognized as gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.

After Mignano, Lindstrom was offered the opportunity to transfer away from the front while his Medal of Honor recommendation was being considered. He refused the safer assignment and chose to remain with his fellow soldiers. The decision carried him into the fighting at Anzio, where on 3 February 1944, Private First Class Floyd K. Lindstrom was killed by enemy fire. He was 31 years old.

His Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously in War Department General Orders No. 32, dated 20 April 1944. On 25 April 1944, Major General Terry Allen presented the Medal of Honor to Lindstrom's family at Camp Carson, Colorado. The official record identifies him as a member of Company H, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, and recognizes his extraordinary actions near Mignano on 11 November 1943.

Lindstrom's wartime honors also reflected the wider scope of his combat service. In addition to the Medal of Honor and Silver Star, he received the Purple Heart and two Italian Military Crosses of Valor. The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, which preserves Lindstrom's medals, documents, and personal collection, specifically records these awards and has used its archival holdings to preserve the story of his life and military service.

Lindstrom was initially buried in Italy. His remains were later returned to Colorado Springs and reinterred at Evergreen Cemetery, where he rests in the community that had been his home since childhood. His Medal of Honor and other surviving material are preserved in Colorado Springs, ensuring that the story behind his extraordinary actions remains connected to the city that sent him to war.

His name also became permanently associated with the veterans he had once served beside. In 2014, Congress passed legislation designating the Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic at 3141 Centennial Boulevard in Colorado Springs as the PFC Floyd K. Lindstrom Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic. The designation became law as Public Law 113-215 on 16 December 2014.

Floyd Kenneth Lindstrom's story is more than the story of a Medal of Honor recipient. Before Mignano, he had already risked his life in Sicily to save another soldier. After Mignano, when offered a chance to leave the front, he chose to remain with his unit. At Anzio, that choice cost him his life. From Colorado Springs to the battlefields of Sicily and Italy, PFC Floyd K. Lindstrom left a record of courage defined not by a single moment, but by a repeated willingness to place others before himself.