FUNK, LEONARD A., JR.
Rank and organization: First Sergeant,
U.S. Army, Company C, 508th Parachute Infantry, 82d Airborne Division. Place and date:
Holzheim, Belgium, 29 January 1945. Entered service at: Wilkinsburg, Pa. Birth:
Braddock Township, Pa. G.O. No.: 75, 5 September 1945.
Citation:
He distinguished himself by gallant, intrepid actions against the enemy. After advancing
15 miles in a driving snowstorm, the American force prepared to attack through waist-deep
drifts. The company executive officer became a casualty, and 1st Sgt. Funk immediately
assumed his duties, forming headquarters soldiers into a combat unit for an assault in the
face of direct artillery shelling and harassing fire from the right flank. Under his
skillful and courageous leadership, this miscellaneous group and the 3d Platoon attacked
15 houses, cleared them, and took 30 prisoners without suffering a casualty. The fierce
drive of Company C quickly overran Holzheim, netting some 80 prisoners, who were placed
under a 4-man guard, all that could be spared, while the rest of the understrength unit
went about mopping up isolated points of resistance. An enemy patrol, by means of a ruse,
succeeded in capturing the guards and freeing the prisoners, and had begun preparations to
attack Company C from the rear when 1st Sgt. Funk walked around the building and into
their midst. He was ordered to surrender by a German officer who pushed a machine pistol
into his stomach. Although overwhelmingly outnumbered and facing almost certain death, 1st
Sgt. Funk, pretending to comply with the order, began slowly to unsling his submachine gun
from his shoulder and then, with lightning motion, brought the muzzle into line and
riddled the German officer. He turned upon the other Germans, firing and shouting to the
other Americans to seize the enemy's weapons. In the ensuing fight 21 Germans were killed,
many wounded, and the remainder captured. 1st Sgt. Funk's bold action and heroic disregard
for his own safety were directly responsible for the recapture of a vastly superior enemy
force, which, if allowed to remain free, could have taken the widespread units of Company
C by surprise and endangered the entire attack plan.
