Charles N. DeGlopper's Sacrifice on Hill 192 in Normandy

Oct 08 , 2025

Charles N. DeGlopper's Sacrifice on Hill 192 in Normandy

Blood in the mud, steel screaming overhead. Men were falling one by one, trapped between a hellish flurry of bullets and an enemy hell-bent on annihilation. Somewhere on that cratered hill in Normandy, a lone soldier stood his ground against impossible odds. That man was Charles N. DeGlopper.

Roots Born from Duty and Faith

Charles N. DeGlopper came from the grit and grind of Albany, New York, the kind of place where hard work was in your blood and faith ran like a quiet river beneath daily struggles. Raised by parents who instilled in him a stern moral compass, DeGlopper lived by honor—a code of service, sacrifice, and humility etched deep in his soul.

He wasn’t just fighting for country. He was fighting for every man beside him. For family waiting back home. For something greater than himself.

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

This scripture wasn’t just words for DeGlopper. It was a promise. A burden. A call to arms.

The Battle That Defined Him: The Hill 192 Stand

June 9, 1944 — three days after D-Day. The 82nd Airborne Division, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, was still carving out bloody footholds in the French countryside. Their objective: seize and hold Hill 192 near Saint-Come-du-Mont.

Enemy machine guns slashed the air. Mortar rounds pounded the ground like thunder. The assault stalled. The men in DeGlopper’s platoon found themselves trapped in a deadly chokehold—pinned down, vulnerable to annihilation.

Unlike many, DeGlopper didn’t flinch. He stood and acted when others only prayed. Crawling into view, he charged a machine gun nest, drawing a lethal hailstorm of bullets onto himself. His single-minded mission: cover his unit’s retreat.

One by one, the wounded and weary withdrew—under his relentless fire.

Each step forward was a step closer to death. But DeGlopper knew what was at stake.

He fired his Browning Automatic Rifle until he fell, riddled with bullets, soaked in blood. His sacrifice saved roughly two dozen comrades from death or capture that day.

Recognition Burned in Bronze and Words

Posthumous Medal of Honor. The nation’s highest honor for valor against the enemy. His citation reads:

“By his intrepid courage and heroic sacrifice, Pfc. DeGlopper enabled the remainder of his platoon to disengage and withdraw, saving many lives.”

Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, famed for his leadership in the Battle of the Bulge, called DeGlopper’s acts “an unselfish act of courage that epitomizes the highest ideals of soldiering.”

Medals and ribbons can never repay the price paid on that dusty hill. But they stand as cold, unyielding witnesses to a soldier who put the lives of others before his own.

Legacy Etched in Blood and Honor

DeGlopper’s story is a raw reminder: heroism is not the absence of fear. It’s action in defiance of it.

His name lives on—not just in the halls of valor, but in the hearts of every man and woman who understands the true cost of freedom.

Sacrifice doesn’t always come with fanfare. Sometimes, it’s a single bullet in the dark, a moment between life and death where a soldier chooses to stand tall.

Let his legacy be a beacon—a shadow in our souls, reminding us of the debt owed to men like Charles N. DeGlopper.

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” — 2 Timothy 4:7

He finished his course on Hill 192. He kept the faith—faith in God, in country, in his brothers in arms.

We carry that faith now. We carry his scars as our own.

Sources

1. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients: World War II 2. David Kenyon, The 82nd Airborne Division in World War II 3. Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Citation for Charles N. DeGlopper 4. Antony Beevor, D-Day: The Battle for Normandy