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Army Pfc. Charles N. DeGlopper served as a paratrooper during World War II in North Africa and Italy. However, it was for his selfless actions in France, three days after D-Day, that earned him the Medal of Honor posthumously.
DeGlopper was born in Grand Island, New York, Nov. 30, 1921, to Charles and Mary DeGlopper. He grew up on a cattle farm and was the youngest of his siblings: John, Robert and Lillias. DeGlopper attended a one-room school until eighth grade, then graduated from Tonawanda High School in 1941.
He didn't play sports in high school; instead, he joined a bachelors' club for cooking and sewing with his childhood friend Harold Long, according to Long during a 2022 interview with Niagara Frontier Publications.
"We had a great time. The teacher always said, 'We've got to teach you sewing.' But we wanted to cook. That's how I got to know Charlie," Long recalled.
DeGlopper enlisted in the Army in November 1942 when he received his draft notice. It was difficult to fit the 6-foot-7-inch-240-pound private in uniform, since he wore size 15 boots. Following basic training at Camp Croft, South Carolina, he boarded a ship in April 1943, serving with Company C, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.
On June 9, 1944, after crash-landing his glider near the Normandy town of Sainte-Mère-Église, France, he was advanced with the forward platoon to secure a bridgehead across the Merderet River at La Fière, France.
"At dawn, the platoon had penetrated an outer line of machine guns and riflemen, but in so doing had become cut off from the rest of the company. Vastly superior forces began a decimation of the stricken unit and put in motion a flanking maneuver, which would have completely exposed the American platoon in a shallow roadside ditch where it had taken cover," his Medal of Honor citation reads.
Detecting this danger, DeGlopper volunteered to support his comrades by firing his automatic rifle while they attempted a withdrawal through a break in a hedgerow.
With disregard for his own safety in a concentration of enemy automatic weapons fire, he walked from the ditch onto the road in full view of the Germans. He sprayed the hostile positions with assault fire.
"He volunteered to cover the movement of his buddies to more advantageous terrain. Standing at 6'7" tall, it was hard for him not to be conspicuous. He certainly knew that he would be an easy target for the Germans, for the Nazis. Yet, with remarkable bravery, he acted above and beyond the call of duty to protect his fellow soldiers and accomplish the mission," said Army Maj. Gen. David Conboy, who served as the guest speaker during a 2024 ceremony to dedicate a park to DeGlopper in his hometown.
Although wounded twice, DeGlopper continued firing. Kneeling in the roadway, weakened by his wounds, he leveled his weapon against the enemy and fired burst after burst until he was killed.
He was successful in drawing the enemy action away from his fellow soldiers, who continued the fight from a more advantageous position and established the first bridgehead over the river.
In the area where he made his intrepid stand, his comrades later found the ground strewn with dead Germans and many machine guns and automatic weapons.
On March 10, 1946, DeGlopper's father received the Medal of Honor from Army Maj. Gen. Leland S. Hobbs at Trinity Evangelical United Brethren Church in Grand Island.
Hobbs had commanded the 30th Infantry Division at Normandy.
"He did all he could. We did all we could. Nothing more could be done. Charles DeGlopper did not fear fear. He admitted it. It should be a lesson to all of us," said Hobbs at the ceremony, according to the March 11, 1946, newspaper "The Buffalo News."
His legacy lives on in his hometown and throughout the Army.
On Dec. 3, 1947, the Army Transport Englin Victory was renamed the Pvt. Charles N. DeGlopper at the Brooklyn Army Base in Brooklyn, New York. A road at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is named for him, and in January 2015, the Fort Bragg Air Assault School was dedicated and renamed the DeGlopper Air Assault School.
The Army Reserve Training Center in Tonawanda, New York, is named the Charles DeGlopper Center. On June 9, 2024, 80 years after he paid the ultimate sacrifice, his hometown dedicated the DeGlopper Memorial Park with a rifle salute and a military helicopter flyover.
DeGlopper is buried in Maple Grove Cemetery in Grand Island.
This article is part of a weekly series called "Medal of Honor Monday," in which we highlight one of the more than 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients who have received the U.S. military's highest medal for valor.
