Sergeant Stanley BENDER’s Bridge

3rd American Infantry Division - 3rd DIUS - Company E
October 31, 1909 – June 22, 1994

The highest distinction of the United States of America "The Medal of Honor" was awarded to him in 1984 for the 40th anniversary of the landing in Provence.

On August 17th, 1944 at La Londe les Maures (France), he performed an act of bravery. One says that he "deliberately advanced 40 metres in open ground, visible to German soldiers, under a rain of allied and enemy fires to a first machine gun, which he put out of action in a single, short burst.

He opened a path up through the heart of the fighting zone despite the explosions of grenades, towards a second machine gun 25 metres away.
While the two servants who operated it swept the area and fired two times in its direction, he bravely continued under fire and reached the top of the site, neutralizing the device.
Instructing his men to occupy the holes left by shell fire, he travelled another 35 metres to kill a enemy sniper. He leads his group to the destruction of 8 enemy strong points.
His boldness impressed the rest of the company so much that the men left their positions to charge, while screaming, to submerge the enemy’s roadblock and infiltrate the city. They destroyed two anti-tank guns in the process, killed 37 Germans and captured 26 others.
He led his men through an attack that overwhelmed the enemy, destroyed a roadblock, took a town, seized the bridge over the Maravenne River and captured the sector command.”
(The sector covered the area of Val Rose, Saint Honoré and la Pabourette)

He will wait for the arrival of the US tanks with his section and on the morning of August 18th he will cross the liberated city.

Sergeant Stanley BENDER died on June 22nd 1994 at the age of 85.
He is buried in the High Lawn Cemetery (Town of Fayette) in West Virginia, United States (location "Section A - Lot 360). A bridge and a museum bearing his name are dedicated to him.