Medal of Honor Hero Charles DeGlopper’s Stand in Normandy

Dec 07 , 2025

Medal of Honor Hero Charles DeGlopper’s Stand in Normandy

Charles N. DeGlopper knelt in the mud, rain hammering down, bullets slicing the air like death itself was chasing him. His squad was falling back, beaten and broken, but the enemy closed in fast. No hesitation. DeGlopper raised his M1 rifle, firing steady and deliberate bursts despite the chaos. Every shot a prayer. Every heartbeat a promise. He held that exposed hill alone to buy time, knowing it would cost him his life—and it did.

The Boy from Glen Cove

Born March 27, 1921, in Glen Cove, New York, Charles grew up like many sons of the hard-scrabble 1920s and ’30s: tough, grounded, and made to work. His was a humble American childhood, shadowed by the Great Depression but stitched with faith. Raised in a community where church bells punctuated Sunday mornings, DeGlopper learned early that duty meant everything.

"I'm going to give all I have," he once confided to a friend, not for glory, but because it’s the right thing to do. The values etched in that Long Island soil—self-sacrifice, brotherhood, honor—would steer him through the darkest hells of war.

Hold That Line: The Battle of Normandy

June 9, 1944. The world had changed just days before when the Allies stormed Normandy’s beaches. DeGlopper was part of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, thrust deep behind enemy lines.

As the German counterattack thundered toward the village of Les Forges, the retreat order came. The Americans were to fall back across a small clearing—a killing ground. Without cover. Under heavy machine gun and mortar fire.

DeGlopper volunteered to stay behind as his comrades pulled back. Alone, armed with only his M1 rifle, he laid down suppressive fire. Each round fired was a desperate shove against the jaws of annihilation. His actions slowed the enemy’s advance, giving his unit precious seconds to escape.

He fought until struck—killed in action on that blood-soaked field.

Medal of Honor: Price of Valor

For his gallantry, Charles N. DeGlopper received the Medal of Honor posthumously. The citation reads:

“Private First Class DeGlopper displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty... covering the withdrawal of his platoon by placing heavy fire upon the advancing enemy, thereby allowing his comrades to escape.”^[1]

General Matthew Ridgway, commander of the 82nd Airborne, later remarked:

“His courage was the very essence of the fighting spirit.”^[2]

In a letter home, a fellow soldier wrote simply, “Charlie made us live longer that day.” His sacrifice was not an act of cold calculation but the fiery edge of a soldier’s love for his brothers.

The Enduring Legacy

DeGlopper’s hill, marked by a modest stone monument near Les Forges, remains a silent testament to resolve amid ruin. His story ripples beyond medals and battlefield maps—reminding us the true cost of freedom is measured in blood and courage.

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

In every combat veteran’s scar, there beats the same fierce heart that moved DeGlopper: flawed, unyielding, and fiercely loyal to the mission and to each other. His sacrifice is our inheritance—a brutal lesson in the power of selfless courage.

Charles N. DeGlopper did not survive to see victory. Yet, through his final stand, he passed down something more lasting than life itself—the ultimate beacon of sacrifice, shining through the darkest nights of war.

Sources

1. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Citation: Charles N. DeGlopper 2. Matthew Ridgway, quoted in Rick Atkinson, The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944–1945 (Henry Holt and Co.)