Homer Lee Wise

First Sergeant Homer Lee Wise: Medal of Honor Hero of Magliano, Italy

Pinned down by German fire, most soldiers could do little more than search for cover. Homer Lee Wise did the opposite. He crossed exposed ground to rescue a wounded man, killed three enemy soldiers threatening his platoon, attacked another position with rifle grenades, silenced a machine gun and climbed onto a tank under fire to bring its jammed weapon back into action. By the end of 14 June 1944, near Magliano, Italy, Wise had transformed a stalled American advance into a victory. His actions earned the Medal of Honor and placed him among the most highly decorated infantrymen of World War II.

Homer Lee Wise was born on 27 February 1917 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Before entering military service, he worked in Louisiana and Texas. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1941 and was eventually assigned to Company L, 142nd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division. The division would carry him from training in North Africa into some of the most difficult fighting of the Italian Campaign and the invasion of southern France.

Wise entered combat when the 36th Infantry Division landed at Salerno, Italy, on 9 September 1943. The landing placed American troops against determined German resistance as the Allies struggled to establish and expand their beachhead. Wise continued fighting through Italy, including operations associated with Naples and Rome. His European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal would ultimately carry four bronze service stars, reflecting four credited campaigns during his wartime service.

Long before the action that made him nationally famous, Wise had already proved himself under fire. On 7 January 1944, he earned the Silver Star for gallantry during a reconnaissance mission on the icy slopes of an Italian mountain. The surviving accessible synopsis records that he carried out the mission while exposed to enemy fire. Although the complete original Silver Star citation has not been located in the sources examined, the date, decoration and nature of the action are consistently documented.

Five months later came the action at Magliano. Wise’s platoon was trapped by small-arms fire from both flanks when he left relative safety to help carry a seriously wounded soldier from an exposed position. When a German officer and two enlisted men threatened the right flank with automatic weapons, Wise moved into firing position and killed all three with his submachine gun. He then returned for an M1 rifle and antitank grenades, using them against the defenders blocking the American advance.

The battle was not over. When another German machine gun halted the battalion, Wise advanced ahead of his men with an automatic rifle and neutralized the position. As enemy fire intensified from a nearby ridge, he ran to an American tank, climbed onto its exposed turret and restored a jammed machine gun to working order. He then fired into the German positions until the pressure on his battalion was reduced and the Americans could seize their objective. His Medal of Honor citation repeatedly emphasizes that he acted while deliberately exposing himself to enemy fire.

Wise’s Medal of Honor was announced in War Department General Orders No. 90, dated 8 December 1944. Lieutenant General Alexander M. Patch, commander of the Seventh Army, presented the medal to him at Épinal, France, after Wise had been withdrawn from combat. He had entered the action as a staff sergeant, but he would eventually rise to first sergeant during a military career extending far beyond World War II.

His Medal of Honor action was not the end of his combat record. After participating in the invasion of southern France, Wise earned the Bronze Star Medal with the “V” Device on 16 August 1944. A contemporary account reported that Wise and six other American soldiers captured a German motor park and took 32 prisoners. The episode demonstrated a different form of courage from Magliano, combining aggressive action, initiative and small-unit effectiveness against a larger enemy group.

Combat also left permanent marks. Wise was wounded three times during 1944 and received the Purple Heart with two bronze oak-leaf clusters, representing three awards. Published accounts identify a shrapnel wound to the head on 18 June, a sniper wound on 22 August and another sniper wound on 22 September. Yet he continued serving through the campaigns in Italy and France until he was removed from combat in November for his Medal of Honor presentation.

Allied nations also recognized Wise’s wartime service. Italy awarded him the War Cross for Military Valor, and France awarded him the Croix de Guerre 1939-1945. The official Connecticut Veterans Hall of Fame record confirms both foreign awards, although the accessible source does not reproduce their complete individual citations. The precise French citation-level emblem, such as a star or palm, has therefore not been established from the surviving documentation examined.

Wise’s ribbon rack also records the wider course of his service. It includes the Army Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp and National Defense Service Medal with one bronze service star. Unlike gallantry decorations, these awards were generally based on qualifying service, campaign participation or conduct rather than individual battlefield citations. Together, they trace a career that began before the United States entered World War II and continued into the Cold War.

After receiving an honorable discharge in 1945, Wise returned to civilian life, but the Army soon called him back. He reenlisted in 1947 and served in recruiting, administrative and overseas appointments. His later assignments included Germany from 1952 to 1954, France from 1961 to 1963, Fort Devens in Massachusetts from 1963 to 1965 and Italy from 1965 to 1966. He retired in December 1966 after approximately twenty-four years of military service.

In 1958, Wise was selected as one of six honorary pallbearers during ceremonies connected with the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. It was a fitting role for a soldier whose own wartime service had become a national symbol of sacrifice. Despite his decorations and public recognition, accounts of his later life consistently describe him as modest about his combat record and generous toward veterans, neighbors and strangers.

Homer Lee Wise died on 22 April 1974 in Connecticut at the age of fifty-seven. He was buried at Saint John’s Cemetery in Darien. His legacy survives not only through the Medal of Honor, Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Hearts he earned, but through the choices recorded in their citations. Again and again, when Wise could have remained under cover, he moved forward. When a soldier was wounded, he carried him. When enemy fire stopped the advance, he attacked it. When a weapon failed, he climbed into danger and made it work.

First Sergeant Homer Lee Wise became a hero because courage, for him, was never passive. It was movement toward the men who needed him and toward the enemy positions that threatened them. At Magliano, his platoon was pinned down. Wise refused to stay pinned down with it.