Oldest Living Medal of Honor Recipient -- a World War II Vet Who Said Poignant Prayer Before Battle of the Bulge Heroics -- Has Died

Story by the Associated Press; curated by Dave Urbanski

CRESSKILL, N.J. (AP) — The oldest living Medal of Honor recipient has died.

Nicholas Oresko, 96, an Army master sergeant who was badly wounded as he single-handedly took out two enemy bunkers during the Battle of the Bulge in 1945, died Friday night at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, hospital officials announced Saturday.

Nicholas Oresko (Credit: MedalofHonorBook via YouTube)

A November 2011 article on the Department of Defense website described Oresko as the oldest living Medal of Honor recipient. The medal is the nation's highest military award, bestowed by Congress for risk of life in combat beyond the call of duty.

A Bayonne native, Oresko received the Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman on Oct. 30, 1945.

Oresko shaking President Truman's hand after receiving Medal of Honor (Credit: MedalofHonorBook via YouTube)

At the age of 28, Oresko was a platoon leader during the Battle of the Bulge and had a feeling before being called to the day's fight that it could be his last.

So he said a prayer.

"I looked up at the sky and said, 'Lord, I know I'm going to die; let's just make it fast, make it quick,'" he recounts in a video interview (which you can watch below). "'Because I know this is the end.'"

Soon automatic fire pinned down Oresco's unit. Realizing a machine gun in a nearby bunker needed to be eliminated, Oresko moved out alone in the morning darkness, braving bullets that zipped about him, until he was close enough to throw a grenade into the German bunker. He rushed the bunker and used his M-1 rifle to kill the soldiers who survived the grenade blast.

Then another machine gun fired, knocking Oresko down and wounding him in the right hip and leg. He managed to crawl to another bunker and take it out with another grenade. Despite being weak from loss of blood, Oresko refused to be evacuated until he was assured that the mission was accomplished.

His actions on Jan. 23, 1945, were credited with preventing numerous American casualties and were praised as key to the Allies' victory.

The Bergen Record reported that several veterans and young members of various branches of the military stayed with Oresko in his final days after a friend wrote about his health problems on a Facebook page and noted that Oresko had no immediate family still living.

Check out this amazing profile on Oresko via YouTube:

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