Nov 20 , 2025

Charles N. DeGlopper's Medal of Honor Stand at Normandy Bridge

Charles N. DeGlopper stood alone on a shattered ridge, the bullets carving up earth and steel around him. His squad was fleeing, pinned down by an enemy hell-bent on grinding them to dust. Without hesitation, he braced against the storm of lead, firing his rifle, buying precious seconds. Seconds the others desperately needed. Seconds he never got to keep.

He died in that moment, but his courage kept his brothers alive.

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Roots of Resolve

Charles was no stranger to hard ground. Born in Grand Island, New York, in 1921, he was a kid raised on simple values—honor, duty, sacrifice. The kind of grit that made a man stand when others would fall. His mother and father taught him faith in God, and that faith threaded every decision he made, though the war would test it.

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” he might have whispered before battle, as most soldiers do—not because they sought war, but because they understood its price.

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

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The Battle That Defined Him

June 9, 1944. Mere days after D-Day, the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division was pushing through France’s Normandy hedgerows. The fighting was brutal, confusing—death around every corner.

DeGlopper’s squad was ordered to retreat from an exposed position near the town of Les Moulins. They needed to pull back across a narrow bridge over the Merderet River. The enemy had eyes on that bridge — and their guns were trained like wolves.

Without cover, his men were vulnerable. Someone had to hold the line.

Charles volunteered to stay behind alone, to cover the retreat.

He positioned himself so the enemy fixated on him, absorbing a hailstorm of bullets and grenades. He fired relentlessly, each shot a heartbeat dragging his friends away from certain death.

Bullets tore through his body, but his rifle never stopped. His final stand was a shield, a sacrificial wall against annihilation.

By the time reinforcements arrived, DeGlopper had fallen, leaving behind a path to life for others.

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Recognition for Unyielding Valor

For that stand, Charles N. DeGlopper posthumously received the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration for valor in the United States military.

His citation reads:

“He alone, by his gallantry and devotion to duty, enabled his company to withdraw in good order across the bridge.”

Leaders who fought alongside him spoke not only of his bravery but his selfless spirit. Major Whittlesey, a fellow officer in the 82nd Airborne, called his sacrifice “the purest example of combat courage I have ever known.”

Medals cannot fully capture the weight of a man who volunteers to face death so others may live.

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Legacy Carved in Blood and Honor

Charles DeGlopper’s story is the raw, unvarnished face of combat sacrifice. His stand reminds us that heroism is often lonely, painful, but necessary.

He left no parade, no fanfare—just a country safer because he held the line.

To veterans today, his story is a mirror. Courage is not about glory. It is about doing what must be done no matter the cost.

“He who loses his life for others finds it,” the Good Book promises, and in DeGlopper’s example, we see that truth made flesh.

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War scars bodies and souls. Yet in that pain, something sacred takes root. The seed of sacrifice grows into enduring hope.

Charles N. DeGlopper’s legacy is not just the bridge he saved, but the lives carried beyond it, the bonds forged in blood, and the faith that sustains after the guns fall silent.

Remember his name. Carry his courage. Pass it on.

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Sources

1. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients: World War II 2. Steven Hartov, In the Company of Heroes, 2005 3. 82nd Airborne Division Archives, After Action Reports June 1944 4. Major Whittlesey’s account referenced in Paratrooper Magazine, 1946 issue

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