Medal of Honor recipient a ‘real hero’
Widow to attend concert: Soldier’s story on national stage Portrait of valor: Local veteran to be recognized posthumously
More than 70 years after he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest military decoration, for bravery in combat during World War II, Alton W. Knappenberger will once again be recognized by a grateful nation this Memorial Day.
Knappenberger, who lived in Earl and Upper Pottsgrove townships, as well as Spring Mount in Montgomery County, will be honored posthumously at the National Memorial Day Concert during a segment of the show “Real Heroes,” highlighting Arlington National Cemetery and the American heroes laid to rest there.
The National Memorial Day Concert is a free concert event that takes place on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Knappenberger’s widow Hazel and family members will be in attendance.
The show will feature tributes and musical performances as well as intimate accounts that honor all Americans who have served or have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, according to a press release.
Courage under fire
“I’m no different than the next G.I. walking down the road,” Knappenberger said in a 1989 interview. “I just did my job. I’m the same as the other boys.”
Knappenberger’s heroics were well documented in a book of essays titled “Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty.”
Born Dec. 31, 1923 in Coopersburg, he was working on a pig farm in Spring Mount when he was drafted into the war in 1943.
When the 19-year-old U.S. Army Private First Class landed at Anzio, on the Italian coast Jan. 22, 1944, little did he know that just days later he would face the fight of his life. On Feb. 1, his battalion came under heavy fire in a German counterattack at the little town of Cisterna di Littoria. The Germans had the goal of pushing the Americans back into the sea using nearly overwhelming heavy artillery and tanks.
As the Americans sustained heavy casualties, it was Knappenberger who crawled through the mud and stood so he could see the enemy. A German machine gun about 80 yards away then opened fire his way and the slugs landed right in front of him kicking mud into his face. He quickly grabbed a Browning Automatic Rifle lying beside a dead comrade and returned fire on the machine gun killing the three Germans operating it, according to the story.
Then two Germans crawled to within 20 yards of Knappenberger and threw potato masher grenades at him. He turned and killed them both with one burst from his rifle. As he began to move forward, a second German machine gun unloaded on him from about 100 yards out. Knappenberger stopped it by firing back, the essay states.
Soon a German 20mm anti-aircraft gun directed fire at his unit. Knappenberger took out the operator with just his rifle and for the next two hours continued to single-handedly hold off the enemy infantry. When he ran low on ammunition, he’d crawl and pick up clips from the weapon of a dead American and keep fighting.
When he finally ran out of ammunition, he ran and rejoined his company. Only six men from his company of 200 had not been killed or wounded when the fighting stopped, according to the essay.
On June 8, 1944, Gen. Mark Clark, commander of the 5th Army, presented Knappenberger with the Medal of Honor as American troops looked on and the regimental band played. He was sent home soon after and travelled the country telling his story to promote the war bond drive.
Humble ‘Knappie’
Eager to leave the war and the new found celebrity behind him, Knappenberger returned to his home in Spring Mount where he married a 16-year-old girl named Ruth two days before the liberation of Paris in 1944. He was officially discharged from the service a year later and began a series of jobs including working in factories, driving trucks and working as a supervisor for an asphalting crew, family members told The Mercury in an interview.
His marriage to Ruth fell apart after just a year, and the two went their separate ways.
Knappenberger later met his second wife, Mary, and the couple had five children together, including their youngest twin girls, Karen and Sharon.
But tragedy struck the family in 1970 when Mary died of cancer. Still grieving from the loss, he was desperate and needed help watching the kids.
“He didn’t know what he was going to do,” Hazel said.
Working at Superior Tube in Collegeville at the time, Knappenberger shared his plight with Hazel’s daughter, (also named Hazel) his coworker, who introduced him to her mom.
“Hazel said ‘My mom loves kids, she’ll watch them for you,’” she said.
Hazel had three children of her own from a previous marriage but agreed to watch Knappenberger’s children at her farmhouse on Level Road in Collegeville.
Then unfortunately, tragedy hit home once again. Knappenberger’s twin girls both died of disease within a short period of time. Karen was just 10 years old, while Sharon was only 11.
“I don’t know how he stood it,” Hazel said. “It was awful. That was terrible. I really liked the kids, they were nice kids.”
But even during the tough times, love managed to blossom between Knappenberger and Hazel, and the couple married Aug. 28, 1976.
“He asked me if I wanted to get married I said ‘yeah, that’s a good idea,’” she said. “Give the kids a home. I liked him. I liked him a lot. He was very personable, easy to take to.”
Knappenberger lived out the rest of his days with Hazel, playing the model patriarch. The couple lived in half a dozen places around the area, before settling in to their home in Earl Township.
To his family, he will always be remembered as a man who rarely raised his voice, liked to dress up like Santa Claus at Christmas, enjoyed his cigarettes, liked fishing and hunting and who earned the respect of everyone around him. He died at 85 on June 8, 2008.
Never one to seek out the spotlight, he rarely spoke of his war heroics to his family and modestly dodged questions from reporters throughout his life.
In fact, he turned down two offers to make a movie and a book deal about his exploits in battle, much to the chagrin of his family.
“He never talked about it,” Hazel said. “He never bragged about it. He did what he had to do, he said. That was it. He’d seen a lot he wanted to forget.”
“He was probably the least confrontational person,” said his granddaughter Hiedie Ott. “You think of him as being someone who’s aggressive and held off an army of soldiers … (we) didn’t picture him as that.”
Her grandfather often shied away from the parades and fanfare in his honor, often turning down invitations to presidential inaugurations and other state functions. In fact if he were alive today he’d probably want to stay home from the concert, she admitted.
“He’d probably be like ‘Ah, I can’t be bothered with that,’” she said. “He probably wouldn’t have wanted to go.”
Hazel will be there with family members.
The concert will air live on WHYY-TV PBS Sunday night at 8 p.m. and be replayed at 9:30 p.m.