*BRITTIN, NELSON V
Rank/Organization:
Sergeant First Class, Company I, 19th
Regiment
Place and date:
Vicinity of Yonggong-ni, Korea, 7 March 1951
Entered service at:
Audubon, NJ
Birth:
Audubon, NJ
General Order Number 12, 1 February 1952
SFC Brittin, a member of Company I, distinguished himself by
conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of
duty in action. Volunteering to lead his squad up a hill, with
meager cover against murderous fire from the enemy, he ordered his
squad to give him support and, in the face of withering fire and
bursting shells, he tossed a grenade at the nearest enemy position.
On returning to his squad, he was knocked down and wounded by an
enemy grenade. Refusing medical attention, he replenished his supply
of grenades and returned, hurling grenades into hostile positions
and shooting the enemy as they fled. When his weapon jammed, he
leaped without hesitation into a foxhole and killed the occupants
with his bayonet and the butt of his rifle. He continued to wipe out
foxholes and, noting that his squad had been pinned down, he rushed
to the rear of a machinegun position, threw a grenade into the nest,
and ran around to its front, where he killed all 3 occupants with
his rifle. Less than 100 yards up the hill, his squad again came
under vicious fire from another camouflaged, sandbagged, machinegun
nest well-flanked by supporting riflemen. SFC Brittin again charged
this new position in an aggressive endeavor to silence this
remaining obstacle and ran direct into a burst of automatic fire
which killed him instantly. In his sustained and driving action, he
had killed 20 enemy soldiers and destroyed 4 automatic weapons. The
conspicuous courage, consummate valor, and noble self-sacrifice
displayed by SFC Brittin enabled his inspired company to attain its
objective and reflect the highest glory on himself and the heroic
traditions of the military service.
Compiler: Merry Helm, Association Historian
Link: Nelson V. Brittin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“.... THE FOREST FOR THE TREES” (SFC Nelson V. Brittin, MOH) By M/Sgt. Charles Willeford, USAF