RUMALDO B. MEDINA, Private First Class, Infantry, Company L. 7th Infantry Regiment, for extraordinary heroism in action on 19 March 1945, near Althornbach, Germany. When his platoon was halted by withering machine gun fire from Siegfried Line defenses, Private First Class Medina armed himself with hand grenades and dashed forward alone to knock out an enemy pillbox. Hit in the chest and knocked down, he continued crawling forward through a hail of machine gun and rifle fire and dropped two grenades through a vent in the pillbox, destroying the crew. His intrepid action enabled his platoon to resume the attack, seize an enemy-held trench, kill three and capture twelve Germans.

NOTE: The actual presentation of this Distinguished Service Cross was made on October 26, 1993, in a ceremony by Lt. Gen. Glynn C. Mallory Jr., Sixth U.S. Army and Presidio of San Francisco commanding general. The General Order dates back to 22 October 1945, some 48 years before. The audience included Medina’s wife, Josie and their 14 children.

Mr. Medina died in San Jose, CA on June 13, 1997