February 10, 2005
Stephen R. Gregg, 90, Dies; Received the Medal of Honor
By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
Stephen R. Gregg, who was awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II for
charging a German outpost in France while he was an Army sergeant, enabling the
rescue of seven American soldiers lying wounded on the battlefield, died on
Friday at his home in Bayonne, N.J. He was 90. His death was announced by his
son, Stephen Jr.
On Aug. 27, 1944, serving in the 143rd Infantry, 36th Infantry Division,
during the invasion of southern France, Sergeant Gregg was in combat at the town
of Montelimar in the Rhone Valley. As his platoon advanced toward a German
position on a hill, an onslaught of hand grenades felled seven G.I.'s, and
heavy enemy fire prevented medics from reaching them. "We were close by, and you could hear the men that were hit calling for medics," he told The New York Times in 2000. "I said, 'God! I've got to do something here.' I don't know what got into me, but I picked up this gun.
"I kept firing and firing. I was just thinking, 'I've got to get as many as
I can before they get me.' I never thought I'd come out of this thing alive,
to be frank with you. The Lord was with me."
Sergeant Gregg had picked up a machine gun, and with a medic following him,
he headed up the hill toward the Germans, firing from the hip in the face of
a hand-grenade barrage. His covering fire enabled the medic to remove the
wounded, according to the Medal of Honor citation.
After he used up his ammunition, he was confronted by four German soldiers,
who ordered him to surrender. Platoon members opened fire on the Germans, and
as they hit the ground, Sergeant Gregg escaped to an American machine-gun
position. He fired away once more, routing the Germans and enabling the
Americans to take the hill. The next day, when the Germans counterattacked with tanks, Sergeant Gregg directed a mortar barrage, and then he charged a mortar position the Germans had overrun, capturing it by hurling a hand grenade.
He continued in combat, received a commission as a second lieutenant and was
presented with the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor, by
Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch, commander of the Seventh Army, on March 14, 1945.
Mr. Gregg, a native of the Bronx, grew up in Bayonne and was drafted in 1942
after working as a shipyard welder. Before participating in Operation Anvil,
the invasion of southern France, he took part in the Italian campaign and
fought at Altavilla and the Rapido River alongside one of America's most
celebrated combat heroes, Sgt. Charles E. Kelly, the Medal of Honor winner known as Commando Kelly.
Mr. Gregg also received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Purple
Heart. When he returned to Bayonne in May 1945, 50,000 people watched him ride in a procession to a hero's welcome at a city stadium.
He worked for 51 years for the Hudson County Sheriff's Department, retiring
as chief of court officers. A county park in Bayonne is named for him.
In addition to his son, Stephen Jr., of Warren, N.J., he is survived by a
daughter, Susan Gregg, of Little Falls, N.J.; a sister, Sophie King, of Orange
City, Fla.; and two grandsons. His wife, Irene, died in 2001.
Mr. Gregg once said that Medal of Honor winners did not consider themselves
heroic figures. As he told The Record of Hackensack, N.J., in 2000: "We are
just ordinary men who didn't go out to earn this. It was just the spirit of
the moment that came upon you to do things."
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"