[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 10454-10455] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]REMEMBERING WORLD WAR II HERO GINO MERLI, MEDAL OF HONOR WINNER ______ HON. PAUL E. KANJORSKI of pennsylvania in the house of representatives Thursday, June 13, 2002 Mr. KANJORSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of a great American, Gino J. Merli of Peckville, PA. Mr. Merli passed away Tuesday at the age of 78, and with his passing, we have lost a true American hero. I would like to insert here the two articles which appeared in the Scranton Times and Tribune on Wednesday about Mr. Merli, who exemplified the best of America's ``Greatest Generation.'' WWII Hero Gino Merli Dies (By David Falchek) Gino Merli didn't embrace fame or his role of war hero. Yet he accepted them as he lived his life, with a sense of duty. So the man who rarely talked about the event that earned him the Medal of Honor responded to every letter praising him for his heroic deeds. Mr. Merli died Tuesday at his Peckville home. He was 78. On the night of Sept. 4, 1944, Army Pvt. Merli was manning a machine gun when German forces attacked near Sars la Bruyere, Belgium. The outnumbered U.S. forces began their retreat, but Pvt. Merli held his position, providing cover fire. Under attack with his fellow soldiers dying around him, he played possum. [[Page 10455]] When the Germans turned their attention to the retreating men, Pvt. Merli rose from the ground and fired, repeating the ploy again and again. When he returned from World War II, his duty became serving other veterans. For 34 years, he was an adjudication officer at the VA Medical Center in Plains Township. When veterans, unaware of Mr. Merli's record, talked about their war experiences, he never mentioned his own. ``He never put himself or his experiences against anyone else's,'' explained friend and Marine veteran Ike Refice. ``You never saw him point to himself or say `Look at me. I have this medal.''' Not much changed in the time since he received a hero's welcome in Scranton in 1945 or walked the beaches of Normandy with Tom Brokaw in 1984. In 1945, he told a cheering crowd of 500 people at the Hotel Casey that he'd ``rather be on the battlefield any day than make a speech.'' Yet, in a letter he sent to admirers, he wrote that he may have been motivated by ``my dead buddies or my hatred of war.'' NBC News anchor and author Tom Brokaw remembers Mr. Merli always talking of other soldiers, rather than himself. ``He was a reluctant warrior, full of modesty and humility,'' Mr. Brokaw said. ``The fact that he went to a church and prayed for men he had killed through the night was typical of him.'' Mr. Merli was an inspiration for Mr. Brokaw's book ``The Greatest Generation.'' The two met often. When Mr. Brokaw began writing his book about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, he said he was thinking about Gino Merli. ``I came to love him,'' Mr. Brokaw said. Mr. Merli helped change how local people defined ``American.'' During World War II, Italy's alignment with Axis countries stoked anti-Italian and antiimmigrant sentiments. Italian Americans often found their patriotism questioned. Gino Merli's heroics helped many in Lackawanna County see beyond ethnicity, said his son, Gino Merli Jr. ``When people saw my father come home and heard what he did, it changed their perception about what it means to be American,'' he said. ``People saw the first- and second- generation immigrants sacrificing life and limb for the United States and for freedom.'' In 1994, Mr. Refice and Mr. Merli visited Europe to retrace their steps through Europe. Oddly, the rural area where Mr. Merli held back Nazi troops was unchanged. They met a Belgian man who, at the age of 16, watched Mr. Merli confound the Nazis again and again. During their visit, the town put a monument in the village common thanking Mr. Merli. In his final days, he still shied away from speeches. But he did like to stand before a crowd for one purpose, Mr. Refice said. He enjoyed leading a crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance. Lately, Parkinson's disease and a heart ailment held him back. As a final encore last Saturday, the History Channel showed Roger Mudd's special on the Big Red One, the first infantry division, which featured Mr. Merli. In letters he sent to admirers, Mr. Merli wrote: ``Not everyone can be a Medal of Honor recipient. But everyone can take pride in himself--have pride in his heritage. We must always keep trying to better ourselves and our surrounding and we must never quit. Always remember America is you and me.'' ____ Merli Held Position So His Unit Could Escape (By David Falchek) At age of 18, Gino Merli was barely an adult and hadn't even graduated from high school. Yet he became a hero. Before he faced his greatest challenge as a gunner with the 1st Infantry Division, he had survived landing on Normandy and two subsequent battle injuries. Pvt. Merli was a machine gunner near Sars la Bruyere, Belgium, on the night of Sept. 4, 1944, when German forces attacked. As the outnumbered and outgunned GIs started retreating, Pvt. Merli held his position to provide cover fire as a tightening circle of German troops closed in on him. Tracer bullets and grenades blew up before him. His assistant gunner was killed, the cooling system of his gun was destroyed and death appeared certain. He slumped next to his dead colleagues, feigning mortal injury. German soldiers poked the bodies and turned them over with bayonets. Pvt. Merli didn't budge. When the Germans advanced to pursue U.S. troops, Pvt. Merli sprang up, shooting in all directions. As new waves of Germans approached, he repeated the shot/play dead sequence. In a speech in Scranton in 1945, Sgt. Milton V. Kokoszka recalled that horrible night. ``I saw (Pvt. Merli) had not been taken prisoner and after we moved some distance I would hear our machine gun open fire again,'' he said. ``I saw different enemy groups move into the emplacement and each time the gun would stop, and then start firing again as soon as they left. He had pretended to be dead.'' During the night, he watched a silhouette of a German soldier in the moonlight. The German knew his routine, Pvt. Merli thought, and was waiting for him to move. Although technically the enemy, Pvt. Merli felt a connection to the soldier he referred to as ``that German boy'' for the rest of his life. The Germans sustained heavy losses at the nearby front, and 700 surrendered. The allies found Pvt. Merli the next day. He was covered in the assistant gunner's blood and his clothing was in tatters from bayonet jabs. Around him were 52 dead Germans, 19 directly in front of his gun. Pvt. Merli's only request was to visit a church. He prayed for the men he had killed and for the safety of the German soldier he had watched through the night. Mr. Speaker, we see the bravery and dedication of Gino Merli being carried on today in the men and women who are fighting our new war on terrorism. All of us in Northeastern Pennsylvania are proud to claim Mr. Merli as one of our own, and I join my fellow residents of Northeastern Pennsylvania in sending best wishes and condolences to his family. ____________________