The Sacrifice of Charles DeGlopper at Normandy's Vire Ridge

Nov 20 , 2025

The Sacrifice of Charles DeGlopper at Normandy's Vire Ridge

Bullets screamed across the hedgerows. Men fell around him like autumn leaves. Yet Charles DeGlopper stood alone on that hell-scarred ridge near Normandy’s Vire River, firing his M1 rifle as if holding back the flood of death itself. His unit was breaking. Retreat was the only salvation—but that salvation demanded a soul brave enough to buy it with his own life.

Roots Forged in Soil and Scripture

Charles Neil DeGlopper was raised in the quiet farms of Fulton, New York. Simple country boy, grounded in stern values and steady faith. His family, tight-knit and devout, shared sermons that echoed in his heart—the kind that sculpt a man to stand firm when all else falls apart.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” John 15:13 etched into his moral compass, would become more than words. It would become his mission.

Before the war called, DeGlopper worked the land and learned the discipline of service in the New York National Guard. The call to arms came swiftly after Pearl Harbor, setting a path from farm fields to foreign battlegrounds. It wasn’t glory he sought. It was duty. A duty that would leave scars deeper than flesh.

The Battle That Defined Him

June 9, 1944. Three days after D-Day, the 82nd Airborne Division punched into the brutal hedgerow country around Normandy. DeGlopper, a private in Company C, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, found himself in thick misery—soaked in mud, blood, and the screams of desperate men.

Their objective: hold a small ridge overlooking the Vire River to block the German advance.

The company was pinned down. The enemy unleashed artillery, machine guns, and snipers. Retreat was ordered to avoid annihilation—except the platoon’s withdrawal exposed their flank, risking a complete collapse.

DeGlopper rose alone.

He sprinted away from cover, exposing himself to a firing pit of German bullets. With a calm born of conviction, he fired his rifle to draw enemy fire. Over and over. His frantic, controlled bursts kept the enemy’s heads down, blinding their aim. His friends slipped back.

His courage exacted a devastating toll. A bullet struck him down, ending his mission but saving his platoon.

The Medals of Honor citation describes him as “the key factor which enabled his company to retreat." A phrase that rings hollow unless you’ve watched a brother fall to save others.

A Medal for a Soldier’s Soul

Posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on February 13, 1946, DeGlopper’s courage still resounds over decades. The citation details:

“Facing intense machine gun and rifle fire at close range, Private DeGlopper remained alone in his exposed position... though grievously wounded, he continued firing... until he was killed.”

His commanders and comrades never doubted the price—for no man walks towards the guns unless his heart is iron-bound.

Brigadier General James M. Gavin later called the action “one of the finest examples of extraordinary bravery.” Others spoke of DeGlopper as the embodiment of sacrifice for the common man, for the brotherhood of battle.

Legacy Etched in Sacrifice

The Charles N. DeGlopper Memorial in New York and plaques across military installations honor the man who gave all at the river’s edge. But medals and memorials can never capture what war extracts from a man.

His story is a raw, brutal reminder: There is no glory in war, only sacrificial service.

We owe him more than medals. We owe him reverence—the eternal respect for those who stand in the line when others run. The healing begins when we recognize their enduring legacy of courage, redemption, and faith forged in fire.

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

Charles DeGlopper’s journey from a quiet farm boy to a battlefield legend invites us to reckon with the cost of freedom. His sacrifice echoes in every courage-made decision, every brother fallen, and every soul redeemed.

To honor him is to remember that freedom was never free—and sometimes, it demands a private to stand alone, on a hill, against a hailstorm of bullets, so others can live.

Sources

1. U.S. Army Center of Military History, “Medal of Honor Recipients: World War II (G–L),” 2. Charles DeGlopper Medal of Honor Citation, U.S. Army Archives, 1946 3. James M. Gavin, Airborne Warfare, 1947 4. New York State Military Museum, “Charles N. DeGlopper Memorial,” 5. Congressional Medal of Honor Society, “Charles Neil DeGlopper”