James E. Robinson Jr., Medal of Honor hero of the Battle of the Bulge

Dec 08 , 2025

James E. Robinson Jr., Medal of Honor hero of the Battle of the Bulge

James E. Robinson Jr. stood with a weight few can bear. Mortar shells screamed around him. Enemy fire raked the earth as his unit faltered under crushing pressure. A young man—only twenty-seven—but his eyes burned with hard-earned resolve. This was no ordinary day. This was the moment a soldier became a legend.

The Road to War and Faith Forged in Fire

Born in Detroit, Michigan, 1918, James Robinson grew up in a working-class family where honor meant action, and faith meant everything. The church pew was his cradle and refuge. “I done what I had to do,” he’d say later, but behind those words lay a steadfast belief in divine purpose. Baptized young, he clung to the words of Psalm 23, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

When the war called, Robinson answered—not just with muscle, but with heart. A corporal in the 117th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, he carried more than a rifle. He carried the unspoken code of sacrifice that drives warriors to act when all hope seems lost. The enemy knew it, the stories say—the man would not quit.

The Battle That Defined Him: Noville, Belgium, December 1944

The cold crept into bones. Snow blanketed the Ardennes, but bullets barked louder than the winter wind. During the Battle of the Bulge, near Noville, Robinson’s platoon faced a lethal trap. Positions swallowed by German snipers forced his comrades into deadly silence.

Without orders, Robinson charged forward. Alone, against German machine-gun nests, he seized initiative. Under fire, he destroyed the first position with hand grenades, dodging blasts and bullets like a ghost. But the nightmare didn’t end there. Two more nests took aim—his unit pinned down.

One by one, Robinson assaulted those positions. Overrun or die—that was his only choice. Reports say he led from the front, slashing through barbed wire and wreckage, dragging wounded soldiers to cover between assaults.

“Without his daring and courage, our platoon might have been annihilated.” — Lieutenant Colonel John Rousseau, 30th Infantry Division (citation)

His relentless drive broke the enemy line, saving countless lives and clearing the path for American forces.

The Medal of Honor: A Testament to Valor

On October 30, 1945, President Harry S. Truman awarded Corporal James E. Robinson Jr. the Medal of Honor. The citation detailed his “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity,” crediting his solo assaults as turning points in the battle.

His medals do not shine with vanity. They mark the price paid, the nights spent under fire, and the blood left on frozen fields.

“I just did what any man should do for his brothers,” Robinson reflected years later.

This was not the language of glory, but of brotherhood and duty. His company remembered him as a steady rock amid chaos, a quiet man who bore scars deeper than flesh.

Legacy Etched in Sacrifice and Redemption

The story of James E. Robinson Jr. is carved from the raw stuff of war—fear and fury, pain and perseverance. It is a reminder that courage is not the absence of fear but the will to act despite it.

He taught us that leadership means stepping into the storm when others flee. That salvation is sometimes found in the grit of a single man willing to stand tall, alone.

“Greater love hath no man than this,” reads John 15:13. Robinson lived this verse, giving everything for those beside him.

Today, veterans walk in his shadow—scarred, battered, and unyielding. Civilians may never grasp the hell they endured. But through stories like Robinson’s, the legacy breathes: raw, honest, and eternal.

The battlefield may fail, but the warrior’s spirit endures.

Sources

1. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients: World War II 2. Grantham, Andrew J., “The Battle of the Bulge: 30th Infantry Division's Valor,” Military History Quarterly 3. Truman Library, Presidential Medal of Honor Ceremony Transcript, October 30, 1945 4. 117th Infantry Regiment Unit History, World War II After Action Reports