Military photo of First Sergeant Leonard A. Funk, Jr.

by Ken Kaszak

In the frigid chaos of the Battle of the Bulge’s end, First Sergeant Leonard A. Funk, Jr., performed an act of courage so bold and improbable, it seems torn from a Hollywood action movie.

Funk’s Medal of Honor citation outlines the details:

He was ordered to surrender by a German officer who pushed a machine pistol into his stomach. Although overwhelmingly outnumbered and facing almost certain death, 1SG Funk, pretending to comply with the order, began slowly to unsling his submachine-gun from his shoulder and then, with lighting motion, brought the muzzle into line and riddled the German officer. He turned upon the other Germans, firing and shouting to the other Americans to seize the enemy’s weapons. In the ensuing fight, 21 Germans were killed, many wounded, and the remainder captured.

It wasn’t Funk’s first outrageous act of courage during the war. And it’s amazing that he survived to live out a long quiet postwar life back home in McKeesport, PA.

The 25-year-old Funk was drafted into the Army before Pearl Harbor, in June 1941. He volunteered for the paratroopers, part of the newly created airborne forces. He was assigned to Company C of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment which became part of the 82nd Airborne Division.

Funk arrived in England in late 1943, scheduled to be part of the D-Day invasion. Funk’s mother died when he was young and was of French heritage. His father was of German ancestry. On D-Day, Funk jumped into his mother’s country to fight against soldiers from his father’s country.

Many of the paratroopers landed far from their objective. Funk found himself 20 miles from his planned drop zone. He assembled a group of 18 men and, with a badly sprained ankle and traveling at night, led them to the safety of U.S. forces and U.S. held territory. For his actions at Normandy, First Sergeant Leonard Funk received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the first of three Purple Hearts.

Funk also jumped into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden. On September 18, 1944, Sgt. Funk led a three-man patrol to knock out a battery of three 20mm guns firing on the Allied gliders trying to land. For his actions, Funk was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. He was also awarded two Purple Hearts as a result of combat in the Netherlands.

Although Leonard Funk was already a highly decorated soldier, his legend was cemented on January 29, 1945. Funk helped lead a 15-mile march on the Belgium town of Holzheim.

Sgt. Funk was now acting Company Executive Officer, taking the role after the original XO had been killed. Funk wanted to secure the town but didn’t have near the men to do it. So, with his new XO authority, he recruited clerks and other normally non-combatant soldiers to boost the number of men in his company.

Funk led a charge against the town and took 30 prisoners without suffering a casualty. More fighting netted 50 more prisoners. Holzheim was now under Allied control.

Funk left four soldiers to guard his 80 German prisoners, then led patrols through Holzheim to quell any further resistance.

While Funk was gone, 20-or-so more enemy soldiers, dressed as American soldiers, infiltrated the area where the prisoners were being held. With 80 POWs behind them, these Germans overpowered the four guards Funk had left behind.

Funk returned to find the POW situation reversed. The prisoners were now captors, and the Americans on the ground with their hands on their helmets.

A German officer approached Funk and stuck his machine pistol into Funk’s belly. Funk was caught. He could either obey, surrender, and join the new cache of Allied POWs or resist and be killed.

Feigning surrender, Funk went through the motions to disarm and puts his hands up. Instead, he slipped his slung Thompson M1A1 submachine gun from his shoulder (the newer kind of “Tommy gun” without the drum magazine and left hand barrel grip), and, in a flash, leveled the barrel and pulled the trigger.

Funk killed the officer and kept firing at the 100-odd Germans in front of him. He shouted to his men to pick up the weapons of the dead and join the fight. Within 45 second, 21 Germans lay dead, the rest were wounded or surrendered. The captors were once again the captured.

As Funk’s Medal of Honor citation explained:

First Sgt. Funk’s bold action and heroic disregard to his own safety were directly responsible for the recapture of a vastly superior enemy force, which, if allowed to remain free, could have taken the widespread units of Company C by surprise and endangered the entire attack plan.

When Harry Truman draped the medal around Leonard Funk’s neck on August 23, 1945, he supposedly said, “I would rather have the Medal of Honor than be President of the United States.”

Today, Funk is remembered at Ft. Liberty (formerly Ft. Bragg), where a fitness facility is named after him. There’s also a post office in McKeesport that bears his name.

Near his childhood home in Braddock Hills, PA, he’s honored with his own memorial in front of a general Veterans Memorial at the corner of Columbia Avenue and Brinton Road.

On Funk’s site is an etched an excerpt from Funk’s Medal of Honor citation and a list of his medals and awards. In addition to receiving every medal for valor a paratrooper can receive, Funk was also awarded medals from the French, Belgium and Dutch governments.

Snow covered Veterans Memorial in Braddock Hills

Braddock Hills, PA, Veterans Memorial, with the Leonard Funk Memorial in front (Ken Kaszak)

The site is close to Homestead’s Waterfront and is accessible over the Rankin Bridge or via Fourth Avenue in Braddock. When you drive there, you will know why they call the neighborhood Braddock Hills. There is a parking lot across the street. It’s worth your time to visit (a great idea for this January 29th) and pay homage to First Seargent Leonard A. Funk, Jr.

Carved panel from Leonard Funk Memorial

One panel of the Leonard Funk Memorial (Ken Kaszak)

Engraving of a devil in a parachute with 508 on Leonard Funk Memorial

Shoulder patch of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment etched in Leonard Funk’s Memorial (Ken Kaszak)

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