Virginia Guard Medal of Honor recipient from Charlottesville remembered 66 years later - June 8, 2010
The Virginia National Guard remembered the service and sacrifice of Tech. Sgt. Frank D. Peregory, a Charlottesville native who earned the Medal of Honor following the D-Day Invasion, with a rededication ceremony for the training complex named in his honor. The Guard unveiled a new sign for area in a ceremony held at Fort Pickett, June 8, 66 years after the actions that earned him the nation’s highest award for valor.
Peregory, a native of Charlottesville, was a sergeant in Company K, 116th Infantry, 29th Infantry Division. During a training exercise before being sent overseas, Peregory rescued a drowning comrade and in recognition of his timely action and disregard of danger to himself, he was awarded the Soldier's Medal, the highest award that a soldier who has not been in combat can receive.
On June 6, 1944, Peregory landed with the 116th on Omaha Beach as part of the Normandy invasion, known as D-Day. Despite fierce enemy resistance that included heavy shelling and machinegun fire, by June 8, Peregory's unit had made its way to the outskirts of the town of Grandcampe. For his actions that day, he received the Medal of Honor.
Peregory was killed six days later fighting in the hedgerows and was aware he had been recommended for the medal. He is buried at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Normandy, France.
In 1984, Fort Pickett built and dedicated the "Peregory Complex" in his honor. The new sign unveiled June 8 features a base of sand that 116 square feet in honor of the 116th Infantry Regiment and features a 29th Infantry Division patch that is 29 inches in diameter.
Soldiers from Charlottesville-based Company A, 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, fired a 21-gun salute in Peregory’s honor.
Former Lieutenant Carl "Chubby" Proffit was the special guest at the rededication. Proffit was a close friend to Peregory and the two served together in Company K, and he said he was 30 feet from Peregory when he was killed in action.
Proffit was a master sergeant on D-Day and received a battlefield commission two months later. By the end of the war, Proffit had earned three Purple Hearts, two Bronze Star Medal, a Silver Star and the Distinguished Service Cross.
After the ceremony Proffit promoted a Soldier from the Company A and shared his D-Day experience with Soldiers while they ate lunch. Soldiers from Company A are at Fort Pickett conducting their two-week annual training.
Medal of Honor Citation - PEREGORY, FRANK D.
Rank and organization: Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company K 116th Infantry, 29th Infantry Division. Place and date: Grandcampe France, 8 June 1944. Entered service at: Charlottesville, Va. Born. 10 April 1915, Esmont, Va. G.O. No.: 43, 30 May 1945. Citation: On 8 June 1944, the 3d Battalion of the 116th Infantry was advancing on the strongly held German defenses at Grandcampe, France, when the leading elements were suddenly halted by decimating machinegun fire from a firmly entrenched enemy force on the high ground overlooking the town. After numerous attempts to neutralize the enemy position by supporting artillery and tank fire had proved ineffective, T/Sgt. Peregory, on his own initiative, advanced up the hill under withering fire, and worked his way to the crest where he discovered an entrenchment leading to the main enemy fortifications 200 yards away. Without hesitating, he leaped into the trench and moved toward the emplacement. Encountering a squad of enemy riflemen, he fearlessly attacked them with handgrenades and bayonet, killed 8 and forced 3 to surrender. Continuing along the trench, he single-handedly forced the surrender of 32 more riflemen, captured the machine gunners, and opened the way for the leading elements of the battalion to advance and secure its objective. The extraordinary gallantry and aggressiveness displayed by T/Sgt. Peregory are exemplary of the highest tradition of the armed forces.
www.history.army.mil/html/moh/wwII-m-s.html
