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Personal info

Full name
PETERS, George J
Date of birth
19 March 1924
Age
21
Place of birth
Cranston, Providence County, Rhode Island
Hometown
Cranston, Providence County, Rhode Island

Military service

Service number
31292689
Rank
Private
Function
Radio Operator
Unit
G Company,
3rd Battalion,
507th Parachute Infantry Regiment
Awards
Medal of Honor,
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
24 March 1945
Place of death
Flüren, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
G 17 8

Immediate family

Members
Joseph Peters (father)
Angelina Peters (mother)
Johnnie Peters (brother)
Frankie Peters (brother)
Mary Peters (sister)
Joseph Peters (brother)

More information

Pvt Peters was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty. The citation cited: Pvt Peters, a platoon radio operator with Company G, made a descent into Germany near Fluren, east of the Rhine. With ten others, he landed in a field about 75 yards from a German machine-gun supported by riflemen, and was immediately pinned down by heavy, direct fire. The position of the small unit seemed hopeless with men struggling to free themselves of their parachutes in a hail of bullets that cut them off from their nearby equipment bundles, when Pvt Peters stood up without orders and began a one-man charge against the hostile emplacement, armed only with a rifle and grenades. His single-handed assault immediately drew the enemy fire away from his comrades. He had run halfway to his objective, pitting rifle fire against that of the machine-gun, when he was struck and knocked to the ground by a burst. Heroically, he regained his feet and struggled onward. Once more he was torn by bullets, and this time he was unable to rise. With gallant devotion to his self-imposed mission, he crawled directly into the fire that had mortally wounded him until close enough to hurl grenades which knocked out the machine-gun, killed two of its operators, and drove protecting riflemen from their positions into the safety of a woods. By his intrepidity and supreme sacrifice, Pvt Peters saved the lives of many of his fellow soldiers and made it possible for them to reach their equipment, organize, and seize their first objective.

Additional biographical information can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_J._Peters

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.ancestry.com - 1925 Census / The Last Drop March 24-25, 1945 by Stephen L. Wright, http://www.ww2-airborne.us/units/507/507_honor_pr.html

Photo source: Tom Verheijden, 17th Airborne Division Association