STAFF SERGEANT FREEMAN V. HORNER, U.S. Army, Company K, 119th Infantry, 30th Infantry Division. SSG Horner and other members of his company were attacking Wurselen, Germany, against stubborn resistance on 16 November 1944, when machine gun fire from houses on the edge of the town pinned the attackers in flat, open terrain 100 yards from their objective. As they lay in the field, enemy artillery observers directed fire upon them, causing serious casualties. Realizing that the machineguns must be eliminated in order to permit the company to advance from its precarious position, SSG Horner voluntarily stood up with his submachine gun and rushed into the teeth of concentrated fire, burdened with a heavy load of ammunition and hand grenades. Just as he reached a position of seeming safety, he was fired on by a machine gun which had remained silent up until that time. He coolly wheeled in his fully exposed position while bullets barely missed him and killed 2 hostile gunners with a single, devastating burst. He turned to face the fire of the other 2 machine guns, and dodging fire as he ran, charged the 2 positions 50 yards away. Demoralizied by their inability to hit the intrepid infantryman, the enemy abandoned their guns and took cover in the cellar of the house they occuped. SSG Honer burst into the building, hurled 2 grenades down the cellar stairs, and called for the Germans to surrender. Four men gave up to him. By his extraordinary courage, SSG Horner destroyed 3 enemy machine gun positions, killed or captured 7 enemy, and cleared the path for his company’s successful assualt on Wurselen.

Mr. Horner joined the Legion of Valor in 1945 and resided in Georgia.