Charles DeGlopper's Stand at Graignes Ridge Earned the Medal of Honor

Jan 25 , 2026

Charles DeGlopper's Stand at Graignes Ridge Earned the Medal of Honor

Charles N. DeGlopper stood alone on a shattered ridge, the roar of German fire swallowing the cries of his comrades. He raised his rifle higher through the smoke and the blood—every shot a prayer, every breath a gift stolen from hell’s jaws. His unit was breaking, pinned down, screaming for cover. He stayed behind. He stayed behind to die so others might live.

The Battle That Defined Him

June 9, 1944. The haunting hours after D-Day. The 82nd Airborne Division—gliders and paratroopers landed behind enemy lines to snatch hell’s throat. DeGlopper was a private in Company C, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, tasked with holding an exposed ridge atop the French village of Graignes.

Enemy machine guns hammered the hillside.

His squad was ordered to fall back, but DeGlopper refused. He single-handedly covered the retreat, firing rifle, then a Browning Automatic Rifle, against a swirling tide of German infantry. The bullets tore at his flesh, but he would not yield.

He drew fire onto himself, trading his life for theirs. Seconds stretched into eternity in that hellscape until his final breath bled into the soil of a liberated France.

Brotherhood, Faith, and the Code He Lived By

Born in Mechanicville, New York, in 1921, Charles DeGlopper was a farm boy grounded in grit and grace. Raised in modest faith, he lived by honest work and steady service—fruit of a belief older than any war.

It wasn’t glory he sought. It was duty.

His letters home hinted at something deeper—rooted in scripture and brotherhood. “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

That verse wasn’t just words. It was the armor on his humbled soul.

The Price of Valor

The Medal of Honor citation speaks in cold detail. It cannot capture the horror of those minutes or the thunderous courage embedded in them:

“Private DeGlopper... with utter disregard for his own safety, remained in an exposed position and single-handedly covered the withdrawal of part of his company by firing... until he was killed by enemy fire.”^1

Leaders of the 82nd spoke of him with reverence. General Matthew Ridgway called the stand “an act of extraordinary heroism.” Comrades remembered a man who never flinched, who faced death like a reckoning—quiet, unshakable, resolute.

Legacy Written in Blood

Charles DeGlopper was buried where he fell, a guardian of that dirt soaked with sacrifice.

His story is not just a tale of heroism. It’s a mirror of every soldier’s burden—the price paid in silence. The fight to save a brother, to hold the line when everything inside screams retreat.

He reminds us no one stands alone, no fight is without cost—and redemption often comes through sacrifice.

His courage under fire echoes in every wound earned, every scar carried home.

We carry men like DeGlopper in our hearts. His sacrifice teaches us that the deepest valor burns when no one’s watching, when the gunfire blinds and the soul is laid bare.

Let us not forget, in a world too quick to turn away from sacrifice. In blood and faith, in love and loss, true freedom is forged.

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

Charles DeGlopper stood tall where angels wept. We follow that light—in solidarity, in remembrance, in honor.

Sources

1. U.S. Army Center of Military History, “Medal of Honor Recipients — World War II,” Charles N. DeGlopper Citation 2. 82nd Airborne Division Archives, Battle of Graignes After-Action Report 3. Matthew Ridgway, Soldier: The Memoirs of Matthew B. Ridgway (University Press)