Valor Friday

Last week I talked about three men who went down fighting, and left a pile of enemy corpses surrounding their own bodies. Just a few months before their valiant last stand on Saipan in the Pacific Theater, another man did the exact same thing in the European Theater.

Truman Olson was born in 1917 in the small, rural town of Christiana, Wisconsin. The city is known for having one of the largest percentages of Norwegians in the US, and the city itself is named for Oslo, Norway (which was previously known as Christiana).

When the US was attacked by Japan in December 1941, propelling the country into the Second World War, the 24 year old Olson enlisted with many of his peers. He joined the US Army in June of 1942.

After basic infantry training, Olson was assigned to the storied 7th Infantry Regiment. The regiment is more than 200 years old, and they have participated in more named campaigns than any other Army regiment, spanning through 12 different wars. They are known as “The Cottonbalers”, an honorific they earned at the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. At the time, they were under the command of Major General (future President) Andrew Jackson. Since The War of 1812, the 7th Infantry has seen combat in every war the US has been a party to.

Olson was sent to the European Theater to join the already embroiled 7th Infantry. The Cottonbalers had their first combat action of the war when they made an amphibious landing in Morocco (the first of four amphibious landings they would make onto contested beaches in the coming years) in 1942.

If some of this sounds familiar, I’ve previously talked about one of the men of the 7th Infantry. Garlin Murl Conner was with L Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry for all of their major combat actions in the war.

In 1943, after fighting the Nazis out of North Africa, the men of the 7th Infantry led the charge into Europe, landing on the beaches of Sicily. As winter 1943-1944 took hold, they were once more in the vanguard as the Allies landed on the Italian Peninsula at Anzio.

Coming ashore on the contested beach, the 7th Infantry (part of the 3rd Infantry Division [3rd ID]) conducted a breakout from the beachhead on 22 January 1944. By midnight the 3rd ID had pushed three miles in-land.

The goal at Anzio was to go straight for Rome and flank the Germans’ Winter Line of fortifications across the peninsula. Instead of landing at Anzio and then bursting forward into the Germans’ rear, the operation’s commanding general John Lucas instead took a conservative (and costly) approach. He brought in tens of thousands of men and much equipment to reinforce the beachhead. From their entrenched positions in the mountains surrounding Anzio, the Germans rained shells down on the Allied troops for weeks.

Another man in the 3rd Infantry Division, but in the 15th Infantry Regiment, was Audie Murphy. One of the most decorated American soldiers of the war, he famously wrote of the brutal fighting at Anzio;

The crosses grow on Anzio

Oh, gather ’round me, comrades; and
listen while I speak
Of a war, a war, a war where hell is
six feet deep.
Along the shore, the cannons roar. Oh
how can a soldier sleep?
The going’s slow on Anzio. And hell is
six feet deep.

Praise be to God for this captured sod that
rich with blood does seep.
With yours and mine, like butchered
swine’s; and hell is six feet deep.
That death awaits there’s no debate;
no triumph will we reap.
The crosses grow on Anzio, where hell is
six feet deep.

On 30 January, Truman Olson, now a sergeant, and his men fought what came to be known as the Battle of Cisterna. The four day long battle, an attempt to break out of the Anzio beachhead, was led by the 3rd Infantry Division. They were supported by three Ranger battalions and the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which fell under the command of legendary US Army Ranger leader Colonel William O Darby.

During that first day of fighting at Cisterna, Olson’s B Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Infantry suffered heavily. Over the course of 16 hours of hard fighting, a full third of the company had already been wounded or killed in action. As night fell, the survivors dug into the hills. They placed their single remaining machine gun in a position forward of their lines. The position was partially exposed, and without direct supporting fire from the rest of the company, would bear the brunt of any German attack.

Sergeant Olson was the NCO leading that machine gun team. As the Germans pressed attack after attack all through the night, Olson’s men were cut down one by one. As his comrades fell around him, Olson refused to leave his post. Finally, he was the last remaining man alive in the position. The fighting had gone through the night, with Olson now having been fighting without respite for more than 24 hours straight.

The accurate enemy fire on Olson’s exposed position wounded him in the arm, in addition to taking all his teammates. Still he refused to retreat. As day would break on the 31st of January, the Germans would press a major attack on B Company, with only Olson and his machine gun blocking their way.

With targeted mortar and machine gun fire coming from the enemy, Olson withstood a frontal assault of 200 German infantrymen. Alone and literally out-gunned, Olson held them off. Over the next 30 minutes, he would pour automatic weapons fire into the advancing enemy.

Wounded again, this time mortally, Olson still refused to retreat. Only he and his gun stood in the way of the enemy’s charge. He remained with his gun to protect his men.

The young, baby-faced sergeant, only 26 years old, manned his post for another hour and a half after his fatal wounding. He stopped the enemy’s charge single-handedly. Lying before him were at least 20 dead Germans, with the rest of the assault force breaking under the continued, determined defense of Truman Olson.

Olson had done it. He’d withstood the enemy’s worst and forced them to retreat. While he made them pay dearly for the attempt, Olson would die at his machine gun, having succeeded in defending the rest of his company.

For his valor in action, Olson would posthumously receive the Medal of Honor. He is one of 16 men of the 7th Infantry to have received the honor. He is one of eight men (three posthumously) to have earned the medal during World War II.

In February 1944, After a month of hard fighting and little forward progress, General Lucas was eventually sacked, and command was passed to Lucian Truscott (who had been commanding the 3rd ID). With a more aggressive general in charge, they finally pressed the attack on the Nazis. Even with some successes, the fighting in the area would go on for months.

Among the men who landed at Anzio with Olson was one famous face. In addition to the men I’ve already mentioned above, a soldier in E Company (part of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry) would go on to great fame as an actor. James Arness, best known for playing Marshal Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke, was part of the battle. He was wounded in action and medically evacuated.

Olson’s body was returned home, and he’s buried in his native Wisconsin.

Category: Army, Historical, Medal of Honor, Valor, We Remember