WW2 New Guinea Fallen - Medal of Honor hero Dale Christensen, 112th Cav

2nd Lt. Dale E Christensen was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor while serving in the 112th Calvary Regiment at the Battle of Driniumor in New Guinea.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8191837
https://www.army.mil/article/43452/in_the_finest_traditions_of_the_u_s_cavalry_?from=RSS 

Dale Eldon Christensen never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WW2 fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org. This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War 2 fallen in one free-to-access central database. We are going to need a lot of volunteers. Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

He was born on May 31, 1920 in Iowa. His parents Chris and Sadie were born in Denmark and Iowa, respectively. His father worked as a farmer. Dale had six older brothers. By 1940 Dale had completed four years of high school and was living in Los Angeles. He worked as an  ambulance attendant.

He joined the army in October 1940. For a while he served as a drill instructor. He eventually became a second lieutenant in Troop E, 112th Cavalry Regiment. As a cavalry unit, the 112th Cav was trained to use horses. It was deployed to the South Pacific and was equipped with Australian Waler horses until those in charge determined that the horses would not perform well on South Pacific islands. Despite the cavalry designation, it would fight as an infantry unit.

The 112th Cav was first deployed at an unopposed amphibious landing on Woodlark Island on June 30, 1943. On December 15, the 112th Cav was split up and made three separate amphibious landings in New Britain.

In the summer of 1944 the 112th Cav was attached to the 32nd Infantry Division for the Western New Guinea Campaign. It played a key roll in the 51-day Battle of Driniumor. The 112th Cav suffered 61% casualties by the time the battle ended. One of those killed was Lt. Christensen, who was killed on August 4, 1944 by enemy machine-gun fire. The actions that lead to his death resulted in a posthumous Medal of Honor award.

His citation reads as follows:

2d Lt. Christensen repeatedly distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty in the continuous heavy fighting which occurred in this area from 16-July 19. 

On July 16, his platoon engaged in a savage fire fight in which much damage was caused by 1 enemy machinegun effectively placed. 2d Lt. Christensen ordered his men to remain under cover, crept forward under fire, and at a range of 15 yards put the gun out of action with hand grenades. 

Again, on July 19, while attacking an enemy position strong in mortars and machineguns, his platoon was pinned to the ground by intense fire. Ordering his men to remain under cover, he crept forward alone to locate definitely the enemy automatic weapons and the best direction from which to attack. Although his rifle was struck by enemy fire and knocked from his hands he continued his reconnaissance, located 5 enemy machineguns, destroyed 1 with hand grenades, and rejoined his platoon. He then led his men to the point selected for launching the attack and, calling encouragement, led the charge. This assault was successful and the enemy was driven from the positions with a loss of 4 mortars and 10 machineguns and leaving many dead on the field. 

On August 4, 1944, near Afua, Dutch New Guinea, 2d Lt. Christensen was killed in action about 2 yards from his objective while leading his platoon in an attack on an enemy machinegun position. 

2d Lt. Christensen's leadership, intrepidity, and repeatedly demonstrated gallantry in action at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, exemplify the highest traditions of the U.S. Armed Forces.

His grave is at Manila American Cemetery in Manilla, Philippines.

Thank you Lt. Christensen for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Dale.

This is one of the final 100 stories (95) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75 anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.


Last year on this date I profiled Yeoman Ernest Fisher, USS Truxtun. You can read about Ernest 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.

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