Captain Charles D. Edmonson, DSC

Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), 351st Infantry Regiment

HEADQUARTERS

MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS

UNITED STATES ARMY

28 September 1945

GENERAL ORDERS

NUMBER 256

CHARLES D. EDMONSON, 01297012, Captain, Infantry, 351st Infantry Regiment, for extraordinary heroism in action against the enemy on 23 April 1945 in the vicinity of Ostiglia, Italy. When the 351st Infantry Regiment was ordered to force a crossing of the Po River at Ostiglia, Italy, Captain Edmonson, Regimental S-2, volunteered to lead a small group of picked men across a partially demolished railroad bridge and establish a bridgehead for the subsequent crossing of powerful forces. In the face of intense automatic fire from the enemy held side of the river, Captain Edmonson and his men crawled along the railroad trestle to the broken span. Here Captain Edmonson tied a manila rope to a girder and swung himself down into the whirling water. This conspicuous act centered the fire of every German weapon, and as he reached the middle of the one hundred foot gap, the tempo of German machine gun, rifle, and 20mm automatic cannon fire literally churned the water about him as the enemy used every means within their power to stop him from reaching the north end of the bridge. Although Captain Edmonson was painfully wounded in the hip by a ricochet machine gun bullet, he continued to struggle until he was almost within reach of his goal. Completely exposing himself to the tempest of German fire, Captain Edmonson lunged for the lower rung of a thirty-foot steel ladder and tied the final knot to close this vital gap across the Po. In the face of almost certain death this courageous Captain climbed the ladder to the railbed and took up the fight against the German machine gunners with his carbine. In the three hours of bitter and bloody fighting that followed, Captain Edmonson personally led his picked volunteers through intense machine gun, light artillery, and automatic cannon fire to capture six fortified positions, kill four enemy soldiers, and eliminate German fire and observation on the crossing of his regiment. Although painfully injured and exhausted by his great efforts, Captain Edmonson charged a fortified bunker single-handedly, firing his carbine from the hip, to wound one German machine gunner and force seven to surrender. Captain Edmonson's magnificent display of conspicuous gallantry was the source of praise and inspiration to all who witnessed his battlefield conduct, and his intrepid risk of life in the performance of these acts drove a steel wedge into the final German defense line in northern Italy.

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General Orders No. 256, Headquarters, Mediterranean Theater of Operations, 22 September 1945; World War II Operational and Unit Records; Records of the Adjutant General's Office, Record Group 407; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.