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Pvt Gustave J. Seiler enlisted on 17 April 1943 at New York City, New York.

Lt Col Peterson left the northern Kommerscheidt woods line in midmorning to report to the division CP with two enlisted men, Pfc. Gus Seiler of 1st Battalion Headquarters Company and a second soldier whose name the regimental commander did not know. At the second elbow bend in the Kall trail, heavy enemy small arms fire forced the trio to abandon their jeep and cut cross country through the woods. Coming again upon the winding trail near the river, they saw several abandoned Weasels and the bodies of two Americans who had fallen on the trail and been run over by a vehicle. They pulled these bodies off the trail and removed several others from the abandoned Weasels. As soon as they had finished this task, Germans somewhere along the river opened up with small arms fire.

Pvt. Gus Seiler saved Lt Col Peterson's life by positioning himself between a German machine gun emplacement and his regimental commander while both men were crawling through enemy held territory. Fire from a German machine pistol to the left front tore through Seiler's body. This act of selflessness insured Peterson would complete his vitally important journey to update Gen Cota which resulted in hundreds of American lives being saved.