4th Armored Division Infantry Advancing near Bastogne, Belgium
December 26, 1944

As 4th Armored Division, Third Army tanks approached Bastogne, Patton’s men experienced tough German resistance.  With Patton’s spearhead, riding in half tracks, were members of Company C, 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion.  Among them was Private James Hendrix, a nineteen year-old farm boy from Arkansas.  He dismounted from his vehicle and personally took on two enemy 88mm gun crews and a machine gun nest with his M1 rifle, killing several of the Germans and capturing the rest.  Later that day Hendrix rescued several wounded GIs.  In one instance he pulled a dying soldier out of a burning half-track in an attempt to save the man’s life.  Hendrix received a Medal of Honor for his actions.

National Archives # 28-1212a