Walter C. Wetzel

Two German grenades landed among his fellow soldiers. Walter C. Wetzel had only seconds to act. He warned the men around him, then threw himself onto the grenades, absorbing their blasts and saving his comrades at the cost of his own life. His sacrifice at Birken, Germany, on 3 April 1945, earned him the Medal of Honor and secured his place among the most courageous American soldiers of World War II.

Walter Cline Wetzel was born on 7 June 1919 in Cabell County, West Virginia. He grew up in Huntington before moving with his family to the Detroit area. By 1941, he was living in Roseville, Michigan, where he worked in an automobile plant and supported his wife, Dorothy. He entered the United States Army on 9 July 1941 and was assigned to the 13th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division.

After training in the United States and Northern Ireland, Wetzel crossed to France with the 13th Infantry in July 1944. Serving in the regiment's Anti-Tank Company, he advanced through the fighting in Normandy and Northern France, including operations near Vesly, La Haye-du-Puits, Rennes, Brest and the Crozon Peninsula. His regiment later fought in the Hürtgen Forest and advanced through the Rhineland toward the Rhine and central Germany. By early April 1945, Wetzel was a private first class and acting squad leader.

In the early hours of 3 April, his platoon was defending a command post in a house at Birken when German troops launched a local counterattack. Wetzel detected the approaching enemy, alerted the occupants and joined the defence. As grenades landed in the room, he shouted a warning and covered them with his body. The official Medal of Honor citation records that his action saved his comrades from death or serious injury and enabled them to continue defending the position.

For this act of extraordinary gallantry, Wetzel received the Medal of Honor posthumously under War Department General Orders No. 21, dated 26 February 1946. His documented personal awards also included the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, representing two awards. His qualifying wartime service supported entitlement to the American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with four bronze service stars, and World War II Victory Medal.

Wetzel died from his wounds at just twenty-five years of age. He is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten. His name is remembered in West Virginia and Michigan, including a memorial in Macomb County. His story is not only one of extraordinary courage, but of the bond between soldiers and the willingness to give everything to protect the men beside them.