I happened to share a train seat with Medal of Honor winner Commando Kelly, from Pittsburgh, PA. He was a gentle chap, ordinary looking, mid twenties, wearing his army uniform with a dozen colorful ribbons. We talked and soon became "a band of brothers."
Kelly had been in the bar car and downed too many drinks paid for by well-wishers. I could smell that! But he would tolerate my curiosity about his sudden fame on the battlefield. First he had to laugh when he recited what transpired in the bar at the Astor Hotel in New York City. He was wearing his raincoat and drinking at the bar, crowded with men too old to serve their country, and a few women. One female oldster looked at him with contempt and shouted above the music and talk, "Hey soldier, why aren't you overseas fighting the war? Are you 4-F or something?" Kelly answered, "Because I have syphilis!" As the crowd gasped and quieted down, he took off his raincoat, exposing the Medal of Honor medallion and all his ribbons. Everyone broke into applause and cheers, booing the antagonistic woman out of the bar.
I had to laugh at the incident and asked him to please tell me what happened to deserve that highest honor, and also to receive a battlefield commission. Here is what Commando Kelly told me:
"Well, Alan, I was with my platoon on a hill in France. About 39 GI's defending a medical unit on the other side of this steep hill. There were a lot of badly wounded Americans getting treated before being evacuation to a field hospital. The Krauts, about 200, were on the other side of the hill, getting ready to come up, wipe us out, and then overun the medical unit. The way was for them to come up, engage us, then go down the hill and massacre patients, doctors and nurses. Up on top, our guys were in an old woodshed we fortified with machine guns, mortars, grenades, rifles, pistols and loads of ammunition. I was just walking around this large cabin, listening to the noise of German troops below. They were going to attack in daylight and knew they outnumbered us five to one. I saw this closet door and looked inside. There were a dozen bottles of wine! I passed them all out to my buddies except two. I stayed in the closet and drank a bottle in less than five minutes. Then the second bottle was soon empty and I fell asleep. When I woke an hour later I was stone drunk with a massive headache. I didn't hear a sound outside my closet door. Where were my buddies? They had split. Gone. Left all their guns and ammo behind. Where were the Germans? Oh, they were coming, slowly but surely. I looked through the periscope and saw row after row of Nazi soldiers crawling up the hill, not more than a hundred yards away. Well, Alan, what would you do in that circumstance? You say you would run? How far would you get? Remember, that's desertion and you'd get court martialed. Or get killed. The Germans had orders to take no prisoners. So I decided to stay and fight. First I unloaded a belt of 50 caliber machine gun bullets and it was like like a strike in the bowling alley. The whole front row of 40 Krauts went flying. Dead as doornails. Then I picked up a bazooka and sent a shell into the center of the enemy advance. The wounded ones were screaming in pain. I fired a clip from an M-16 and was lucky again. Ten dead. Time to throw a few grenades. About 8, one after the other. More dead and wounded. Guess what, Alan? Those horses asses thought my whole platoon was in position and firing at them. But it was just me. All me alone! The cowards turned around and started sliding down the hill. I picked up the flame thrower, ran outside and torched several dozen wounded. Remember, take no prisoners. I had a Tommy Gun strapped on my shoulder, so I emptied that into the last wave of unholy rollers down that hill. End of story. I went back in the cabin, exhausted, the battle lasted about 30 minutes, and I fell asleep."
I asked Kelly how he got his Medal of Honor. He explained that after he fell asleep he was shaken awake by a Captain and his dozen or so grunts. They had been sent to return Kelly's body! Instead, they counted over a hundred dead Germans and one American soldier sleeping! But when he had dinner at the White House with President Truman, he left out the incident with the wine in the closet. Hmmmmmm.
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