Orville Emil Bloch

He broke five machine-gun positions near Firenzuola

Orville Emil Bloch was born in Big Falls, Wisconsin, on 10 February 1915 and grew up in Streeter, North Dakota. He worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps and studied agriculture at North Dakota Agricultural College. He enlisted in the Army in February 1942, completed Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning and received his commission that October.

Bloch went overseas with the 85th Infantry Division and served with Company E, 338th Infantry Regiment, in Italy. On 22 September 1944, near Firenzuola, he took three volunteers forward to locate five machine-gun positions that had stopped the advance. He seized the first position, attacked the second with a grenade and pursued other defenders into buildings. His patrol neutralized the five positions, and the official citation credits Bloch with taking nineteen prisoners.

Lieutenant General Lucian Truscott presented the Medal of Honor at a regimental review in February 1945. Bloch returned to the United States as an infantry instructor. He resumed military service after a brief separation and held posts in Tokyo, Atlanta, the Panama Canal Zone, Thailand and Washington, D.C. He retired as a colonel in 1970.

Bloch and his family settled in Washington state, where they operated an apple orchard. He died on 28 May 1983 and was buried in Seattle’s Evergreen-Washelli Memorial Park.