states of america authorized by act of congress march 3rd, 1863 has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor, united states army, for conspicuous gallantly at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 17th infantry division, distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action against the enemy in the vicinity of korea on 1 september 1951. on that date the private first scl class was it charge of defending company f when the enemy launched an attack. because of the overwhelming number, friendly troops were
that s when an enemy grenade landed among his men. every human instinct, every impulse would tell a person to turn away. but at that critical moment, henry svehla did the opposite. he threw himself on that grenade and saved the lives of his fellow soldiers. henry svehla s body has never been recovered. it s a wound in the heart of his family that has never been fully healed. it s also a reminder that as a nation, we must never forget those who didn t come home, are missing in action or taken prisoner of war. we must never stop trying to bring them back to their families. henry was awarded the distinguished service cross, but his family believed that he had earned this nation s highest military honor. they contacted their congressman and his staff who made it their
forced to execute a limited withdrawal. the private first class ordered his squad to take up more defensible positions and provided recovering fire. although having been wounded in the shoulder, the private first class gathered his supply of grenades and ammunition and returned to his original position to face the enemy alone. as the hostile troops concentrated their strength in his placement, he fought fiercely and courageously delivering deadly accurate fire into the ranks of the on rushing enemy. when his ammunition was depleted, he engaged the enemy in hand to hand combat up he was killed. his heroic stand so inspired his comrades that they launched a counter attack that completely repulsed the enemy. upon reaching his emplacement,
ammunition, he grabbed another. and when he ran out of ammo, he reached for the only thing left, a shovel. that s when the enemy overran his position. and in those file mome final mo combat was hand to hand. it was that bravery, that courage of the single soldier that inspired his men to regroup, to rally, and to drive the enemy back. and when they finally reached tony s position, the measure of his valor became clear. after firing so many bullets the barrel of his machine gun was literally bent, but tony had stood his ground. he had saved the lives of his men. after his death, tony was awarded the army s second highest award for valor, the distinguished service cross. but his family felt he deserved more. and so did senator and world war
that afternoon, while private first class svehla and his platoon were patrolling to determine enemy strength and positions, they were subjected to intense automatic weapons and small arms fire at the top of the hill. coming under heavy fire, the platoon s at being a began to falter. realizing the safety of the remaining troops were in peril, he wlept to his feet and charge the enemy positions firing his weapon and throwing grenades as he advanced. in the face of this courage and determination, the platoon rallied to attack. private first class svehla disregarding his own safety in-nikted heavy casualties. when suddenly fragments from a mortar round exploding near by seriously wounded him in the face. he refused medical treatment and continued to lead the attack. when an enemy grenade landed