Charles DeGlopper's Medal of Honor heroism with the 82nd Airborne

Dec 30 , 2025

Charles DeGlopper's Medal of Honor heroism with the 82nd Airborne

Charles DeGlopper stood alone on a ridge, bullets raging around him like a storm. His men scrambled down the slope, broken and bleeding, but safe—for now. He held the line. Alone. Exposed. Defiant. Each second bought a heartbeat for his comrades, and with it, the fragile thread of survival. This was not glory. This was sacrifice carved in fire and blood.

Background & Faith

Born in 1921, Charles N. DeGlopper grew up in New York—Knickerbocker streets and hard blue-collar grit. A farm boy with calloused hands, his strength was forged in soil and sweat before the war demanded more. The quiet kind of man who believed in duty above all—a soldier bound by honor and an unshakable faith.

He carried a deep sense of purpose, grounded in scripture and family tradition. The faith that would steel him in his final hours:

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — John 15:13

That was no mere verse; it was a prophecy he lived out on June 9, 1944.

The Battle That Defined Him

DeGlopper was part of Company C, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. The war had already carried them over Normandy’s blood-soaked fields two days past D-Day. By June 9, the division faced relentless German counterattacks near the town of La Fière, a choke point critical to the Allied advance.

The Germans unleashed ferocious fire—machine guns, mortars, heavy rifle bursts. The American line began to buckle. The order was clear: retreat.

DeGlopper saw the chaos. His men retreating, pinned down, vulnerable. He made a choice that only a warrior forged in the crucible of war could comprehend.

He stayed.

He rose from cover, weapon blazing, drawing enemy fire like a magnet. Rifle pumping rounds into the enemy ranks, he bought precious time for his platoon to pull back.

Bullets ripped through the air, tearing into DeGlopper’s body—he took a wound to the chest but pressed on, undeterred.

“He stood defiantly, pouring effective fire into the advancing enemy until he was killed.” — Medal of Honor citation

His sacrifice sealed the breach. The rest of the unit escaped annihilation.

Recognition

Posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, DeGlopper’s citation praised his “extraordinary heroism and selflessness.” The highest military decoration in America honored a man whose life ended in one final, irrevocable act of valor.

General James M. Gavin, commander of the 82nd Airborne, described DeGlopper as the embodiment of what soldiers should aspire to be:

“He died so that others might live.”

Years later, veterans of the 325th Glider Infantry spoke of him as a guardian angel on the field—a man who sacrificed without hesitation, the very definition of courage.

Legacy & Lessons

Charles DeGlopper’s story is etched into the legacy of airborne infantrymen and echoes through American military history. Not because he sought fame, but because he made the ultimate sacrifice for his brother soldiers.

His grit reminds us all: war is the harshest teacher, and in its darkest moments, character reveals itself raw and unfiltered.

DeGlopper’s final stand speaks across generations, calling us to a higher standard—one of unwavering loyalty, courage facing impossible odds, and a love that conquers the fear of death.

“There is no greater love than this.”

Today, his name lives on in the mouths of soldiers, in the stories told around campfires, in memorials that mark sacrifice with reverence. He is a beacon—not just of war’s cost, but of redemption found even on the bloodiest battlefields.

The battlefield takes everything. Then it demands what’s left: the heart.

Charles N. DeGlopper gave all he had—so others could live, so a mission could press forward, so freedom might endure.

Remember him. Honor him. Walk the hard road he died on—until the fight is done.

Sources

1. Department of Defense, Medal of Honor citation, Charles N. DeGlopper 2. 82nd Airborne Division Association, The Fighting 82nd: An Oral History 3. James M. Gavin, Airborne (Eastern Acorn Press, 1984) 4. U.S. Army Center of Military History, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment after-action reports