Stanley Bender
On the 31st of October, 1909, Stanley was born in Carlisle, West Virginia, and his father was a Russian immigrant and a coal miner. Stanley had joined the US Army in Chicago, Illinois, in December of 1939 since his family had moved there nine years earlier. Within five years, he was deployed to Europe with Company E, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rdInfantry Division and it was his actions in France that would earn him the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. On 17 August 1944, near La Londe, France, he climbed on top of a knocked-out tank, in the face of withering machinegun fire which had halted the advance of his company, in an effort to locate the source of this fire. Although bullets ricocheted off the turret at his feet, he nevertheless remained standing upright in full view of the enemy for over 2 minutes. Locating the enemy machineguns on a knoll 200 yards away, he ordered 2 squads to cover him and led his men down an irrigation ditch, running a gauntlet of intense machinegun fire, which completely blanketed 50 yards of his advance and wounded 4 of his men. While the Germans hurled hand grenades at the ditch, he stood his ground until his squad caught up with him, then advanced alone, in a wide flanking approach, to the rear of the knoll. He walked deliberately a distance of 40 yards, without cover, in full view of the Germans and under a hail of both enemy and friendly fire, to the first machinegun and knocked it out with a single short burst. Then he made his way through the strong point, despite bursting hand grenades, toward the second machinegun, 25 yards distant, whose 2-man crew swung the machinegun around and fired two bursts at him, but he walked calmly through the fire and, reaching the edge of the emplacement, dispatched the crew. Signaling his men to rush the rifle pits, he then walked 35 yards further to kill an enemy rifleman and returned to lead his squad in the destruction of the 8 remaining Germans in the strong point. His audacity so inspired the remainder of the assault company that the men charged out of their positions, shouting and yelling, to overpower the enemy roadblock and sweep into town, knocking out 2 antitank guns, killing 37 Germans and capturing 26 others. He had sparked and led the assault company in an attack which overwhelmed the enemy, destroying a roadblock, taking a town, seizing intact 3 bridges over the Maravenne River, and capturing commanding terrain which dominated the area.
Stanley received the Medal of Honor almost six months later on the 1st of February, 1945 and after the war he returned to West Virginia. He would work for the Veterans Administration and on the 9th of November, 1954, a bridge on the West Virginia Turnpike was named the Stanley Bender Memorial Bridge, or just Bender Bridge. The bridge had a plaque which had his story on it and the bridge led to the the Memorial Tunnel which was only a two lane passage. When the Turnpike needed to be upgraded to meet national highway standards in 1976, a bypass was made, the Tunnel was eventually closed, and the Bridge was demolished in 1988.
Stanley Bender died at the age of 84 on the 22nd of June, 1994, and is buried in the High Lawn Memorial Park in Oak Hill, West Virginia: Section A, Lot 360, Grave 7.
