| Birth: | Mar. 12, 1915
New Ulm
Brown County
Minnesota, USA | | Death: | Jan. 8, 1945, Philippines | 
World War II Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. Served as a First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 45th Infantry, Philippine Scouts. On February 3, 1942, near Bagac, Province of Bataan, Philippine Islands he led his platoon forward against two enemy machinegun nests. When wounded early in the action he did not stop for aid but discarded his rifle and began firing a pistol. He located the first machinegun nest and personally silenced it with grenades. When wounded the second time by machinegun fire to the chest, he climbed to the top of an American tank, manned its machinegun and fired into the second enemy position. A third wound knocked him completely off the tank but his actions succeeded in the Japanese position to be captured by infantrymen with minimal effort. He was captured with the main forces in the fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942 and was in many prisoner of war camps in the years to follow. On January 9, 1945 aboard a Japanese unmarked prison ship he was killed by an American plane, unaware the target was filled with American prisoners of war. (bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith)
Search Amazon for Willibald Bianchi | | | Burial:
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
Honolulu
Honolulu County
Hawaii, USA
Plot: Section MA, Grave 39 |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Originally Created by: John "J-Cat" Griffith
Record added: Aug 10, 2003
Find A Grave Memorial# 7751194 |
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