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| Robert Waugh earned the Medal Honor for action on the Gustav Line in Italy. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56315623/robert-t_-waugh |
Robert Turner Waugh never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on January 16, 1919 in Ashton, Rhode Island. His parents John and Emma were born in Ireland and Rhode Island, respectively. His father worked as a yarn mill foreman and later a cotton mill superintendent. By 1940 the family moved to Augusta, Maine where he worked as a carding overseer. Robert had an older brother and sister. Robert completed four years of high school. He left a job as a mechanic at the same business as his father to join the army on December 1, 1939.
He served overseas from January 1941 to August 1942 as a airplane mechanic and clerk and reached the rank of sergeant. Upon his return he decided to apply to be a pilot. He was passed over so he decided to join the infantry as an officer. He married Helen Sabol in December 1942 and made their home in Pennsylvania.
After completing officer candidate school, he was commission a second lieutenant in the 339th Infantry Regiment, 85th Infantry Division. He was later promoted to first lieutenant and was made a platoon leader. The 339th IR arrived in Italy in March 1944. It was sent to the Gustav line where Lt. Waugh's unit was assigned to take a position named Rocky Ridge.
The hill was defended by two companies of veteran German soldiers. Two pill boxes at the top held a commanding presence over any attack from below. Six bunkers lower down were set up to stop any attempt to take out the pill boxes. During the dark hours of May 11, his first time in combat, Lt. Waugh had his platoon provide cover fire while he single handedly used phosphorus grenades to flush out each bunker and then killed or captured the occupants. By repeating this tactic with each bunker he managed to capture all six by morning. For two more days, his men were pinned down. Communications were lost when enemy artillery kept knocking out the phone line. Rather than put the life of a runner at risk, Lt. Waugh ran across the open field twice each day to report to this company commander.
Lt. Waugh noticed a blind spot between the two German pillboxes at the top of the hill. On May 14 he once again had his platoon provide cover fire while he repeated using grenades to flush out both pillboxes and then killed and captured all the Germans. Lt. Waugh pretty much single handedly captured a key hill that broke the Gustav line at that point of the front.
Five days later on May 19, 1944, Lt. Waugh was once again leading his platoon with this characteristic courage at Itri when he was mortally wounded. He died the same day.
Lt. Waugh was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. His citation reads as follows:
In the course of an attack upon an enemy-held hill on 11 May, 1st Lt. Waugh personally reconnoitered a heavily mined area before entering it with his platoon. Directing his men to deliver fire on 6 bunkers guarding this hill, 1st Lt. Waugh advanced alone against them, reached the first bunker, threw phosphorus grenades into it and as the defenders emerged, killed them with a burst from his tommygun. He repeated this process on the 5 remaining bunkers, killing or capturing the occupants.
On the morning of 14 May, 1st Lt. Waugh ordered his platoon to lay a base of fire on 2 enemy pillboxes located on a knoll which commanded the only trail up the hill. He then ran to the first pillbox, threw several grenades into it, drove the defenders into the open, and killed them. The second pillbox was next taken by this intrepid officer by similar methods.
The fearless actions of 1st Lt. Waugh broke the Gustav Line at that point, neutralizing 6 bunkers and 2 pillboxes and he was personally responsible for the death of 30 of the enemy and the capture of 25 others. He was later killed in action in Itri, Italy, while leading his platoon in an attack.
His grave is at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial in Nettuno, Italy. His widow did not remarry and died in 1963.
Last year on this date I profiled Brady Woods, USS Mullany. You can read about Brady here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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