WW2 Anzio Fallen - Medal of Honor hero Eric Gibson, 3rd Infantry Division cook + Nobel Prize winner

Cpl. Eric Gibson, 3rd Infantry Division earned the Medal of Honor at Anzio.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7722443/eric-gunnar-gibson#view-photo=558753
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/538672805425435603/?nic=1 

Eric Gunnar Gibson never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

He was born on October 3, 1919 in Sweden. His parents Eric and Agda were also both born in Sweden. Eric arrived in the United States in 1926. The family settled in Chicago, Illinois by 1940. Eric had one younger brother. By 1940 Eric and his brother supported their parents by working as butchers. Eric had completed two years of high school.

He was drafted into the army on February 18, 1941. He eventually became a tech 5 and cook in Company I, 3rd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.

The 3rd ID was in battle early on in Morocco in November 1942. The ship that brought in Cpl. Gibson was torpedoed so he swam to shore. Cpl. Gibson served as a cook in Sicily, but he worked out a deal that he could serve as a rifleman in the capacity of a scout until the kitchen supplies were set up to use. He next fought at Salerno in the summer of 1943. By October his unit was involved in heavy fighting crossing the Volturno River and the Battle of Monte Cassino. During the campaign in southern Italy, the 3rd ID suffered 3,265 battle casualties (including 683 killed) and an incredible 12,959 non-battle casualties. With these levels of losses the rifle companies like Cpl. Gibson's Company I were in regular need for replacements.

The 3rd ID's next assignment was Anzio. Cpl. Gibson once again requested to serve as a rifleman instead of a cook. On January 28, 1944, six days after the Anzio landing, Company I came under a withering attack. Cpl. Gibson volunteered to lead a squad of green replacements to the front to shore up the company flank. As they got close to the enemy, Cpl. Gibson left the green troops behind and single-handedly took out four German positions and secured his company's left flank. He was killed taking out the final position. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor 11 months later.

His Medal of Honor citation reads as follows:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. On January 28, 1944, near Isolabella, Italy, Tech. 5th Grade Gibson, company cook, led a squad of replacements through their initial baptism of fire, destroyed four enemy positions, killed 5 and captured 2 German soldiers, and secured the left flank of his company during an attack on a strongpoint. 

Placing himself 50 yards in front of his new men, Gibson advanced down the wide stream ditch known as the Fosso Femminamorta, keeping pace with the advance of his company. An enemy soldier allowed Tech. 5th Grade Gibson to come within 20 yards of his concealed position and then opened fire on him with a machine pistol. Despite the stream of automatic fire which barely missed him, Gibson charged the position, firing his submachine gun every few steps. Reaching the position, Gibson fired pointblank at his opponent, killing him. 

An artillery concentration fell in and around the ditch; the concussion from one shell knocked him flat. As he got to his feet Gibson was fired on by two soldiers armed with a machine pistol and a rifle from a position only 75 yards distant. Gibson immediately raced toward the foe. Halfway to the position a machinegun opened fire on him. Bullets came within inches of his body, yet Gibson never paused in his forward movement. He killed one and captured the other soldier. 

Shortly after, when he was fired upon by a heavy machinegun 200 yards down the ditch, Gibson crawled back to his squad and ordered it to lay down a base of fire while he flanked the emplacement. Despite all warning, Gibson crawled 125 yards through an artillery concentration and the cross fire of 2 machineguns which showered dirt over his body, threw 2 hand grenades into the emplacement and charged it with his submachine gun, killing 2 of the enemy and capturing a third. 

Before leading his men around a bend in the stream ditch, Gibson went forward alone to reconnoiter. Hearing an exchange of machine pistol and submachine gun fire, Gibson's squad went forward to find that its leader had run 35 yards toward an outpost, killed the machine pistol man, and had himself been killed while firing at the Germans.

His grave is at Nora Cemetery in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. His mother died one year later at age 47.

A Liberty Ship was named in his honor, the Cpl. Eric G. Gibson. It was used to transport the remains of the American fallen from Europe to the United States after the war.

Thank you Cpl. Gibson for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Eric.

JAMES BUCHANAN
James McGill Buchanan, Jr. was born on the exact same day as Eric Gibson. Buchanan was born in Tennessee and grew up on a farm. He got a masters degree from the University of Tennessee.

Buchanan joined the US Navy during WW2 and was assigned to the staff of Admiral Nimitz.

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-030-03080-3

After the war Buchanan got his PhD in economics from the University of Chicago. In 1986 he won the Nobel Prize for Economics. He died in 2013.

Last year on this date I profiled Pointe du Hoc ranger Millard Hayden. You can read about Millard 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.

Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100

WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org