Herschel F Briles
Herschel, also known as Pete, was born on the 7th of February, 1914, in Colfax, Iowa. He was one of nine children and grew up on a farm before enlisting in the US Army on his 27th birthday in 1941. Pete’s original intention was to complete a year of service and then return to the farm, but the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor ten months later changed the plans of many, including Pete. He was assigned to Company C of the 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion and saw action in the Tunisian and Rome-Arno campaigns before being deployed to Utah Beach on D-Day. After almost two full years of fighting, Pete then displayed actions that would earn him the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:
He was leading a platoon of destroyers across an exposed slope near Scherpenseel, Germany, on 20 November 1944, when they came under heavy enemy artillery fire. A direct hit was scored on one of the vehicles, killing one man, seriously wounding two others, and setting the destroyer afire. With a comrade, SSgt. Briles left the cover of his own armor and raced across ground raked by artillery and small-arms fire to the rescue of the men in the shattered destroyer. Without hesitation, he lowered himself into the burning turret, removed the wounded, and then extinguished the fire. From a position he assumed the next morning, he observed hostile infantrymen advancing. With his machine gun, he poured such deadly fire into the enemy ranks that an entire pocket of 55 Germans surrendered, clearing the way for a junction between American units which had been held up for two days. Later that day, when another of his destroyers was hit by a concealed enemy tank, he again left protection to give assistance. With the help of another soldier, he evacuated two wounded under heavy fire and, returning to the burning vehicle, braved death from exploding ammunition to put out the flames. By his heroic initiative and complete disregard for personal safety, SSgt. Briles was largely responsible for causing heavy enemy casualties, forcing the surrender of 55 Germans, making possible the salvage of our vehicles, and saving the lives of wounded comrades.
Pete continued to serve with the 899th after his actions and through the end of the war on the European front and would end his time in service on the 24th of June, 1945 at the rank of First Sergeant. Two months after his ETS, he received his Medal of Honor from President Truman in a ceremony at the White House and returned home to continue farming. He was married to Wilma Telfer the following year and they raised their three sons on a farm in Jasper County, Iowa. Herschel Floyd Briles died on the 17th of July, 1994 at the age of 80 and is buried with his wife in the Waveland Cemetery in Prairie City, Iowa.
