Russell J. York (August 5, 1921 – July 22, 2006

was a native of

Waterville, Maine Waterville is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, Kennebec County, Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. The city is home to Colby College and Thomas College. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census the populatio ...

, who served in World War II in 1942–1945 as a combat medic assigned to the 4th Engineer Battalion of the

U.S. 4th Infantry Division The 4th Infantry Division is a division of the United States Army based at Fort Carson, Colorado. It is composed of a division headquarters battalion, three brigade combat teams (two Stryker and one armor), a combat aviation brigade, a divis ...

. He landed at Utah Beach on

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

under the command of Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and with the U.S. 22d Infantry Regiment served in the campaigns in Northern France Campaign (1944), Northern France, Rhineland, Battle of the Bulge and Central Europe Campaign, Central Europe. York was interviewed in 2005 for th
Veterans' History Project
about his service. The tape is available for the public through that organization at the Library of Congress'
veteran's website

Silver Star citation

In the battle for the Battle of Hurtgen Forest, Hurtgen Forest, with the writer Ernest Hemingway, serving under Colonel, later Major General Charles T. Lanham, York earned the Silver Star. : During the incident York ran out of tourniquet material and went to Major General Raymond O. Barton, his commander, and requested the General lend him his belt. He did and York went back in to treat more men.

Additional service

York is reported to have been at the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald sometime during 1945, where a contingent of American press including the CBS News correspondent Edward R. Murrow arrived on April 15, 1945. However, his units weren't involved in the liberation of the camp on April 11, 1945. At the end of April, the

liberated a sub-camp of the Dachau concentration camp near Haunstetten. Prisoners from the Buchenwald camp were transferred into this region at the time. York turned down a Purple Heart so as to not worry his mother, and because he felt coughing up blood from a concussion paled compared to what he'd seen others endure on a daily basis. He shared the incident with
Hemingway
"who suffered four concussions in two years during World War II." In Company "C" he was known as "Doc." His jacket, medals, dog tags and Bible are on display at the 4th Infantry Division (United States), 4th Infantry Division museum at Fort Carson, Colorado.

Awards

* Silver Star * Bronze Star ribbon

Bronze Star Medal, Bronze Star * Army Good Conduct ribbon

Good Conduct Medal (United States), Good Conduct Medal * Presidential Unit Citation (US), Presidential Unit Citation * European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal With Arrowhead device and one Silver Service star * American Campaign Medal * Army of Occupation Medal with Germany clasp * World War II Victory Medal * Belgian Fourragere * Honorable Service Lapel Button, Honorable Service Lapel Button World War II * Combat Medical Badge

Silver Star citation

Additional service

Awards

See also

References

Further reading