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the wall and reached by a ladder. Because of the relative positions of the window, ladder, and enemy emplacement, he decided that he, being left-handed, could better hurl a grenade than 1 of his men who had made an unsuccessful attempt. Grasping an armed grenade, he started up the ladder. His wounded right arm weakened, and, as he tried to steady himself, the grenade fell to the floor. In the 5 seconds before the grenade would explode, he dropped down, recovered the grenade and looked for a place to dispose of it safely. Finding no way to get rid of the grenade without exposing his own men or the civilians to injury or death, he turned to the wall, held it close to his body and bent over it as it exploded. 2d Lt. Viale died in a few minutes, but his heroic act saved the lives of others.
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fire and encircling flames. Blocked from the only escape route by an enemy machinegun placed at a street corner, he entered a nearby building with his men to explore possible means of reducing the emplacement. In 1 room he found civilians huddled together, in another, a small window placed high in
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He displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. Forced by the enemy's detonation of prepared demolitions to shift the course of his advance through the city, he led the 1st platoon toward a small bridge, where heavy fire from 3 enemy
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halted the unit. With 2 men he crossed the bridge behind screening grenade smoke to attack the pillboxes. The first he knocked out himself while covered by his men's protecting fire; the other 2 were silenced by 1 of his companions and a
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with his body, sacrificing himself to protect the soldiers and civilians around him. For his actions, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor eight months later, on
October 25, 1945.
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A small arms firing range at Ohio
National Guard Training Site, Camp Perry, Ohio, is named in honor of 2LT Viale. Camp Perry is the home of the National Rifle and Pistol Championships.
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team which he had called up. He suffered a painful wound in the right arm during the action. After his entire platoon had joined him, he pushed ahead through
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At Camp
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officer and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the
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Second
Lieutenant Viale's official Medal of Honor citation reads:
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Viale, aged 28 at his death, was buried in Ocean View
Cemetery,
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in March 1941, and by
February 5, 1945 was serving as a
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United States Army personnel killed in World War II
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300:List of Medal of Honor recipients for World War II
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184:(April 21, 1916 – February 5, 1945) was a
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377:United States Army Medal of Honor recipients
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382:People from Humboldt County, California
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207:in Company K, 148th Infantry Regiment,
32:Army commissioning picture circa 1941
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295:List of Medal of Honor recipients
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211:. On that day, during combat in
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402:People from Ukiah, California
319:WWII Army Enlistment Records
387:United States Army officers
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234:Medal of Honor citation
135:148th Infantry Regiment
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209:37th Infantry Division
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344:2007-10-02
306:References
91:Allegiance
44:1916-04-21
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273:See also
101:Service/
250:bazooka
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