Dec 20 , 2025
WWII Sergeant Clarence Olszewski’s Medal of Honor Action
Clarence S. Olszewski’s face was packed with grime, sweat, and stubborn resolve as he stared down a blood-soaked ridge near Untergriesheim, Germany. Enemy fire hammered the hillside like a relentless storm, yet the 34th Infantry Division needed that position. They had nowhere to pull back. No margin for failure. Olszewski’s voice cut through the chatter of chaos: “Follow me. This hill falls today.”
The Roots of Resolve
Born in Pennsylvania to Polish immigrant parents, Olszewski grew up among factory whistles and hard-working men who believed honor was earned, never given. Raised in a cradle of faith, his mother’s prayers were his shield long before he donned a uniform. The Good Book echoed in his home, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9).
He carried that quiet confidence into the Army in 1942, a man seasoned by blue-collar grit and faith forged in hardship. The war stripped away illusions. It exposed the raw nerve endings of sacrifice. He wasn’t just fighting for land but for the men next to him—the brothers who shared mud, blood, and the weight of the moment.
The Battle That Defined Him
February 1945. Untergriesheim. The Germans held a strategic hilltop threatening the American advance into Germany’s heartland. Allied forces stalled under relentless artillery and machine gun fire.
Olszewski, then a Sergeant in Company F, 134th Infantry Regiment, 35th Division, saw the pitiless fire swallow soldiers’ hope like a cancer. He took initiative. Leading a single squad up the slope, he crawled within yards of enemy bunkers, tossing grenades under impossible pressure.
Men fell around him with explosive inevitability. But he pressed forward, pulling the line with him. His actions bought time for reinforcements and snuffed out critical enemy resistance.
Multiple wounds could have ended his fight. They didn’t. He rallied men to carry him as he directed the assault until the position was secured. The hill’s capture broke the German line. It hastened the collapse of their defenses in the sector.
Medal of Honor: Pain Etched in Valor
On November 1, 1945, Clarence S. Olszewski was awarded the Medal of Honor. The citation reads in part:
“Sergeant Olszewski's fearless leadership and indomitable fighting spirit were instrumental in his company’s success against well-entrenched enemy forces. Despite grievous wounds, he continued to inspire and lead his men, displaying an unwavering sense of duty and courage above and beyond the call of duty.”
His commanding officers spoke of a leader who embodied grit and grace. Lieutenant Colonel Robert R. Brown remembered him as:
“A soldier who carried no illusions—only a fierce will and steady hands where others saw only fire and despair.”
Comrades described a man who never sought glory but pressed forward because the lives of others depended on it.
Legacy Etched in Blood and Honor
Clarence Olszewski’s story is not a tale of battlefield glory. It’s the brutal honesty of combat, of men broken and remade amid smoke and blood. His sacrifice highlights the cost of every inch gained in a war no one could afford to lose.
His faith anchored him, but his courage was forged in the choking smoke of battle where every breath was a gift wrestled from death’s jaws.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.” (John 15:13)
Olszewski’s actions echo beyond medals and citations. They remind us what it means to lead when the world collapses, to stand when everything screams to fall, to fight without surrender. That relentless spirit haunts the hills and valleys of every battlefield where freedom was bought.
The enduring lesson of Clarence S. Olszewski is carved into the scars of every veteran who has faced the abyss: Courage isn’t found in the absence of fear, but in the choice to advance despite it. His legacy is the blueprint for redemption on the battlefield—a testament that even in war’s darkest hours, honor, faith, and sacrifice can blaze a path forward.
Sources
1. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients: World War II 2. The 35th Infantry Division Association, The Fighting Thirty-Fifth in World War II 3. Brown, Robert R., Command in Combat: Memories of a Division Commander, 1952
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