Friday, May 23rd is not Memorial Day. It is, however, the 64th anniversary of an extraordinary day in the life of a Tech. Sgt. in the United States Army in World War II. This is the week that the 45th Infantry Division was fighting its way off the Anzio Beachhead in their campaign to liberate Rome, Italy from German occupation. The 45th was mostly composed of GIs who had served as National Guardsmen from New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Oklahoma. The Division patch was a red thunderbird, designed with the tribal origins of many of the soldiers in mind.

The warrior nature of the tribal Americans reasserted itself again in the years since the signing of the final peace treaties from the Indian Wars of the 19th Century, as the German defenders found out to their own detriment. Americans had paid a heavy price for their landing at Anzio from January 22nd till the breakout on May 22, 23. The Thunderbirds were given the task of taking Carano on the American right flank, and the Germans were ready. Adolph Hitler was a fan of American movies, especially westerns. He admired the cowboys in particular. He should have paid more attention to the capabilities of the American Indians.

Van T. Barfoot, a sergeant from Carthage, Mississippi, and a Choctaw, happened to be in the 157th Infantry of the 45th Division. On May 23rd, near Carano the German army ran into Mr. Barfoot, or more properly, he ran into them. “With his platoon heavily engaged during an assault against forces well entrenched on commanding ground, Tech. Sgt. Barfoot moved off alone upon the enemy left flank. He crawled to the proximity of one machinegun nest and made a direct hit on it with a hand grenade, killing two and wounding three Germans. He continued along the German defense line to another machinegun emplacement, and with his tommygun killed two and captured three soldiers. Members of another enemy machinegun crew then abandoned their position and gave themselves up to Sgt. Barfoot. Leaving the prisoners for his support squad to pick up, he proceeded to mop up positions in the immediate area, capturing more prisoners and bringing his total count to seventeen. Later that day, after he had reorganized his men and consolidated the newly captured ground, the enemy launched a fierce armored counterattack directly at this platoon positions. Securing a bazooka, Sgt. Barfoot took up an exposed position directly in front of three advancing Mark VI tanks. From a distance of seventy five yards his first shot destroyed the track of the leading tank, effectively disabling it, while the other two changed direction toward the flank. As the crew of the disabled tank dismounted, Sgt. Barfoot killed three of them with his tommygun. He continued onward into enemy terrain and destroyed a recently abandoned German field piece with a demolition charge placed in the breech. While returning to his platoon position, Sgt. Barfoot, though greatly fatigued by his Herculean efforts, assisted two of his seriously wounded men 1,700 yards to a position of safety.”

Sgt. Barfoot was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1944 for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty,” one of some 22 “native Americans” so honored in the history of the award. Promoted to Lieutenant following that action, Mr. Barfoot is among the 105 living recipients.