Fallen: Medal of Honor recipient
Posted: Wednesday, August 06, 2008 2:34 PM by Daily Nightly Contributor
Filed Under:
John Rutherford
By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
Alton Knappenberger, a "one-man army" who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroics during World War II, was buried last Thursday at Arlington National Cemetery.
Knappenberger died June 9 at the age of 84 in Pottstown, Pa. He had suffered five heart attacks over the past 30 years.
Army Pfc. Knappenberger was only 19 when he received the military's highest honor for single-handedly holding off a German counterattack near Cisterna di Littoria, Italy, on Feb. 1, 1944.
"Under tank and artillery shellfire, with shells bursting within 15 yards of him, he held his precarious position and fired at all enemy infantrymen which he could locate," his Medal of Honor citation read.
When the smoke cleared, 60 Germans lay dead. Knappenberger's only injury was a blister on his heel. 
"A one-man army, that's what you are," a general barked at him after the battle. "A blasted one-man army."
Knappenberger was a fearless fighter but an errant soldier. Accompanied by an escort, he was brought back to the States for a meeting at the Pentagon with the Army brass.
"I gave him the slip and took off," Knappenberger told the Allentown Morning Call in 2004. "I just wanted to go home."
He returned home to Pennsylvania and married his 16-year-old girlfriend. The next day he skipped a VFW parade in his honor, but the local VFW commander wasn't annoyed.
"Shucks, the boy's just married," he said. "Who's to blame him if he likes his bride's company better than ours?"
Knappenberger's wandering ways continued when he received the Italian War Cross for his role in the liberation of Rome.
"The place was alive with gold braid, but there was no Knappie," Collier's magazine wrote in 1945. "His three-man bodyguard finally located his temporary snoozing place, yanked him out, slicked him up and presented him."
Knappenberger spent the rest of his life much the same way, avoiding the limelight for actions he never considered particularly courageous.
"I just did what I had to do," he said four years ago. "You go in there and just try to get them guys before they get you."
Knappenberger's burial was as low-key as his life. A horse-drawn caisson, a three-round rifle salute and the playing of "Taps" by an Army bugler on an overcast summer afternoon.
Photo courtesy of the Allentown Morning Call.
Click here to view tributes to the 317 service members killed this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the following 14 casualties over the last two weeks:
1. Army 1st Lt. Nick Dewhirst, 25, of Onalaska, Wis.
2. Marine Pfc. Ivan Wilson, 22, of Clearlake, Calif.
3. Marine Staff Sgt. Faoa Apineru, 31, of Yorba Linda, Calif.
4. Army Spc. Seteria Brown, 22, of Aliceville, Ala.
5. Army Sgt. James McHale, 31, of Fairfield, Mont.
6. Army Spc. Andre Mitchell, 25, of Elmont, N.Y.
7. Army Pfc. David Badie, 23, of Rockford, Ill.
8. Army 2nd Lt. Michael Girdano, 23, of Apollo, Pa.
9. Army Spc. William Mulvihill, 20, of Leavenworth, Kan.
10. Army Pvt. Jair De Jesus Garcia, 29, of Chatsworth, Calif.
11. Army Sgt. Ryan Baumann, 24, of Great Mills, Md.
12. Army Spc. Kevin Dickson, 21, of Steelville, Mo.
13. Army Pfc. Jennifer Cole, 34, of American Canyon, Calif.
14. Army Sgt. Brian Miller, 37, of Pendleton, Ind.
Washington Producer John Rutherford is a decorated Vietnam veteran. He also posts stories on the military at www.fieldnotes.msnbc.com (click on "John Rutherford" under "categories") and at http://john-rutherford.newsvine.com. The tribute gallery can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22802019/.
