“I hope that my country can be as proud of me as I am of my country.”
- Francis Currey, WWII Medal of Honor recipient
For his actions during WWII, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts . . .
all before the age 20.
Orphaned at twelve and raised on a farm outside of Hurleyville, New York, by foster parents, Francis Currey graduated from high school in 1943 and a week later, at the age of 17, joined the Army.
By mid-December 1944, the six-foot tall, 130-pound Private First Class was fighting at "The Bulge," the largest and bloodiest battle fought by the US forces in WWII.
On December 21, 1944, near Malmedy, Belgium - the town where four days earlier more than 80 American POWs had been massacred by the Waffen-SS - Currey and his unit were hit by a column of German tanks and infantry.
Over the next 24 hours, the automatic rifleman assigned to the 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, used his M-1 and Browning automatic rifle - along with a bazooka, two machine guns, and dozens of grenades - to stop the German assault.
At one point in the terrifying engagement, the lanky American, who had completed Officer Candidate School but was denied a commission because his superiors thought he was "too immature," fired at three German soldiers inside a stone house.
"I got all three with one good burst," he told the NY Times years later. “Then I stood up in plain sight and knocked down half a wall of that house with the bazooka.”
The enraged 19-year-old PFC, however, was just getting started. Using anti-tank grenades he singlehandedly demobilized three German tanks, causing the crews to abandon their damaged vehicles and retreat.
He then laid down a barrage of covering fire that allowed five American soldiers, "pinned down for hours by the 3 tanks,” to make their way to friendly lines.
Miraculously, Currey survived the ordeal, and for his heroic actions that "stemmed the enemy attack" and saved his fellow Americans, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Postscript:
After the war, Currey was discharged from the Army. He returned home and worked as a benefits counselor at a veterans hospital in Albany, NY.
When later asked about the day he singlehandedly stopped a German tank unit, he told his local newspaper, "It was just one day of nine months of steady combat . . . and we were all teenagers.”
Francis Currey passed away on October 8, 2019, at the age of 94, leaving behind Wilma, his wife of 70 years, two sons and a daughter.
Today we pay tribute to Technical Sergeant Francis Currey, his family, and all those who served, sacrificed, and died during WWII. We will never forget you!
