[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 78 (Thursday, June 2, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1032-E1033]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO PAUL J. WIEDORFER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN P. SARBANES

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 2, 2011

  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Paul J. 
Wiedorfer, Maryland's last surviving World War II Medal of Honor 
recipient. Mr. Wiedorfer passed away on May 25th at the Baltimore VA 
Medical Center. He was 90 years old.
  Paul, the son of a German immigrant, was born in Baltimore, Maryland 
in 1921. He attended St. Andrew's School and went on to graduate from 
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. He worked for Baltimore Gas & Electric 
Co. as an apprentice power station operator, until he enlisted in the 
Army in 1943.
  Serving in a unit from General George Patton's 3rd Army, he 
experienced his first day of combat during the Battle of the Bulge on 
December 25, 1944. On that Christmas Day in an operation near Chaumont, 
Belgium, his company was ambushed. In the fight that ensued, Mr. 
Wiedorfer darted across an open field of enemy fire and single-handedly 
destroyed two German machine gun nests, while taking several prisoners. 
Amazingly, he was unharmed. That same afternoon he was given a 
battlefield promotion to sergeant.
  On February 10, 1945, while crossing the Saar River in Germany, Mr. 
Wiedorfer was seriously injured when mortar shrapnel tore into his 
stomach and broke his left leg and two right fingers. While 
recuperating at hospital, in England, one of the other patients 
informed Mr. Wiedorfer that the newspaper Stars and Stripes was 
reporting he would receive the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in 
Belgium. Mr. Wiedorfer later told the Baltimore Sun ``To be perfectly 
honest, I wasn't really sure what the hell [the Medal of Honor] was 
because all I was, was some dogface guy in the infantry.''
  Mr. Wiedorfer spent more than three years in the hospital recovering 
from his wounds. He was discharged from the Army in 1947, having 
reached the rank of master sergeant. His other decorations included the 
Purple Heart and Bronze Star. He returned to his life and job in 
Baltimore and retired in 1981. Paul and his wife, the former Alice 
Stauffer, had four children: Nancy Mazer, who passed in 2010, Gary 
Wiedorfer of Cocoa, Florida, and Randee Wiedorfer and Paul J. Wiedorfer 
Jr., who both currently reside in the Congressional District I 
represent.
  Mr. Wiedorfer led a fulfilled life. I would like to take this moment 
to thank him for his service to the United States, and to pass along my 
condolences to his proud family. He was a true American patriot and a 
Baltimore treasure.

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