Alton W. Knappenberger
BIRTH :
31 Dec 1923 Cooperstown, Venango County, Pennsylvania, USA
DEATH :
9 Jun 2008 (aged 84) Pottstown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA
BURIAL :
Arlington National Cemetery Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA Show Map
PLOT :
Section 59, Site 3193
Pennsylvania Military MuseumPrivate First Class Knappenberger served in the U.S. Army, Third Infantry Division. He was born in Cooperstown, PA in 1923. He was awarded the Medal of Honor on May 26, 1944.
Pfc. Knappenberger landed at Anzio, on Italy's west coast, in January 1944 as part of the effort to dislodge the Germans from Rome. His battalion pushed inland about five miles when a heavy German counterattack pinned down the group on February 1st near Cisterna di Littoria, Italy.
Pfc. Knappenberger crawled to an exposed knoll and went into position with his Browning automatic rifle. An enemy machine gun 85 yards away opened fire. Rising to a kneeling position, Pfc. Knappenberger opened fire on the hostile crew, knocked out the gun, killed two members of the crew, and wounded the third. While he fired at this hostile position, two Germans crawled to a point within 20 yards of the knoll and threw potato-masher grenades at him, but Pfc. Knappenberger killed them both with a burst from his automatic rifle. Later, a second machine gun opened fire upon his exposed position from a distance of 100 yards, and this weapon was silenced by his well-aimed shots. Shortly thereafter, an enemy 20 mm antiaircraft gun directed fire at him, and again Pfc. Knappenberger returned fire to wound one member of the hostile crew. Under tank and artillery shellfire, with shells bursting within 15 yards of him, he held his precarious position and fired at all enemy infantrymen armed with machine pistols and machine guns that he could locate. When his ammunition supply became exhausted, he crawled 15 yards forward through steady machine gun fire, removed rifle clips from the belt of a casualty, returned to his position, and resumed firing to repel an assaulting German platoon armed with automatic weapons. Finally, his ammunition supply being completely exhausted, he rejoined his company. Pfc. Knappenberger's intrepid action disrupted the enemy attack for over 2 hours. Mr. Knappenberger was credited with killing 60 German soldiers during a two-hour span that day.
Pfc. Knappenberger died on June 9, 2008 at Pottstown, PA at age 84.
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