George Joseph Peters

He charged a machine gun to save men trapped in deadly fire.

George Joseph Peters was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, in 1924 and entered Army service from his hometown. By March 1945 he was a private and platoon radio operator in Company G, 507th Parachute Infantry, 17th Airborne Division.

On 24 March 1945, he parachuted near Fluren, east of the Rhine in Germany. He and ten other paratroopers landed about 75 yards from an enemy machine gun supported by riflemen. Heavy fire trapped them before they could recover their equipment bundles.

Peters rose without orders and charged the emplacement alone with a rifle and grenades, drawing its fire away from his comrades. A burst knocked him down halfway to the position. He got up and continued until further wounds prevented him from standing. He then crawled forward and threw grenades that silenced the machine gun, killed two crewmen and drove the supporting riflemen into nearby woods. His action enabled the surviving paratroopers to reach their equipment, organize and seize their first objective.

Peters died in the action on 24 March 1945. His posthumous Medal of Honor was announced in War Department General Orders No. 16 of 8 February 1946 and presented to his father on 24 March 1946 at the Rhode Island State House. He is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten.

Medal of Honor citation

Pvt. Peters, a platoon radio operator with Company G, made a descent into Germany near Fluren, east of the Rhine. With 10 others, he landed in a field about 75 yards from a German machine gun supported by riflemen and was immediately pinned down by heavy, direct fire. The position of the small unit seemed hopeless, with the men struggling to free themselves of their parachutes in a hail of bullets that cut them off from their nearby equipment bundles, when Pvt. Peters stood up without orders and began a one-man charge against the hostile emplacement armed only with a rifle and grenades. His singlehanded assault immediately drew the enemy fire away from his comrades. He had run halfway to his objective, pitting rifle fire against that of the machine gun, when he was struck and knocked to the ground by a burst. Heroically, he regained his feet and struggled onward. Once more he was torn by bullets, and this time he was unable to rise. With gallant devotion to his self-imposed mission, he crawled directly into the fire that had mortally wounded him until close enough to hurl grenades which knocked out the machine gun, killed two of its operators, and drove protecting riflemen from their positions into the safety of a woods. By his intrepidity and supreme sacrifice, Pvt. Peters saved the lives of many of his fellow soldiers and made it possible for them to reach their equipment, organize, and seize their first objective.