“The MEDAL OF HONOR” #497 in this Series. The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. Charles Andrew MacGILLIVARY, US Army, Sergeant World War II – September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945 Charles Andrew MacGILLIVARY, US Army, Sergeant Date of Birth: January 7, 1917 Charlottetown, ……………………Prince Edward Island, Canada Date of Death: June 24, 2000 (aged 83) Burial Location: Arlington National Cemetery, VA MacGILLIVARY was born in Canada and at 16 moved to the Boston area to join a brother. While living with his brother, he learned about the Army and considered joining it. After hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor, he decided the right thing to do was to volunteer for the U.S. Army. In January 1942, he joined the Army and was assigned to the European Theatre of Operations, Company I, 71st Infantry, 44th Infantry Division. MacGILLIVARYs first wartime action came during the Battle of Normandy, landing on Omaha Beach in 1944. On January 1, 1945, at 27 years old, his unit was surrounded by the 17th German Panzer Grenadier Division, a Waffen-SS Panzer unit in Wœlfling, France. His Citation reads: Sergeant MacGillivary, led a squad near Woelfling, France, on 1 January 1945 when he unit moved forward in darkness to meet the threat of a breakthrough by elements of the 17th German Panzer Grenadier Division. Assigned to protect the left flank, he discovered hostile troops digging in. As he reported this information, several German machine guns opened fire, stopping the American advance. Knowing the position of the enemy, Sergeant MacGillivery volunteered to knock out one of the guns while another company closed in from the right to assault the remaining strongpoints. He circled to the left through woods and snow, carefully worked his way to the emplacement and shot the two camouflaged gunners at a range of three feet, as other enemy forces withdrew. Early in the afternoon of the same day, Sergeant MacGillivary was dispatched on reconnaissance and found that Company I was being opposed by about six machine guns reinforcing a company of fanatically fighting Germans. His unit began an attack but was pinned down by furious automatic and small arms fire. With a clear idea of where the enemy guns were placed, he voluntarily embarked on a lone combat patrol. Skillfully taking advantage of all available cover, he stalked the enemy, reached a hostile machine gun and blasted its crew with a grenade. He picked up a sub-machine gun from the battlefield and pressed on to within ten yards of another machine gun, where the enemy crew discovered him and feverishly tried to swing their weapon into line to cut him down. He charged ahead, jumped into the midst of the Germans and killed them with several bursts. Without hesitation, he moved on to still another machine gun, creeping, crawling and rushing from tree to tree, until close enough to toss a grenade into the emplacement and close with its defenders. He dispatched this crew also, but was himself seriously wounded. Through his indomitable fighting spirit, great initiative and utter disregard for personal safety in the face of powerful enemy resistance, Sergeant MacGillivary destroyed four hostile machine guns, and immeasurably helped his company to continue on its mission with minimum casualties.” MacGILLIVARY was picked up by the Free French Troops. When they rescued me, my arm had a cake of bloody ice frozen around it, sealing the wound, he recalled. They put me on top of a Jeep, put a block of ice on my arm, and took me to a field hospital. . . . If it had been summer, Id be dead. On August 25, 1945 MacGILLIVARY personally received his Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman. After the war, MacGILLIVARY was a Special Agent for the Customs Bureau in Boston. He served as President of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society from 1973 to 1975 and undertook a project to list past winners of the medal who, like himself, were foreign born. In reflecting on the Battle of the Bulge, MacGILLIVARY minimized his heroics. All I was doing was fighting for my life, he said. The guys were freezing to death and my main ambition was to get us out of there. MacGILLIVARY was enrolled as a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, the 3rd oldest chartered military organization in the world on April 6, 1992. He was the 7th member of the company to receive the Medal of Honor. MEDALS and AWARDS: .. Medal of Honor .. Distinguished Service Cross .. Bronze Star .. Purple Heart with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters .. The Soldiers Medal .. Croix de Guerre (France) Also eligible for the .. American Campaign Medal .. European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal .. World War II Victory Medal IN HIS HONOR: .. a bronze plaque on the lectern at the George Robert White Fund Memorial at the Veterans Memorial Park in the Back Bay Fens in Boston, MA ..
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 11:21:23 +0000