Background
Oresko was born in Bayonne, New Jersey on January 18, 1917. He was the descendant of Ukrainian immigrants.
Oresko was born in Bayonne, New Jersey on January 18, 1917. He was the descendant of Ukrainian immigrants.
World World War II He joined the United States Army in March 1942. He was sent to Europe and arrived in France in September 1944, three months after the Normandy landings. A platoon sergeant in Company C, 1st Battalion, 302nd Infantry Regiment, 94th Infantry Division, he spent the next several months with his unit mopping up pockets of German soldiers who had been bypassed in the Allies" initial push through the northern part of France.
In December 1944, the 94th Division was redeployed to replace the 90th Infantry Division as part of General Patton"s Third Army.
The 94th Division assumed positions opposite the Westwall and the German"s 11th Panzer Division. On January 23, 1945, near Tettingen, Germany, Master Sergeant Oresko single-handedly and under enemy fire, took out a German bunker position that was armed with a machine gun.
Seriously wounded by another enemy machine gun from another bunker, he attacked that bunker under fire and destroyed that enemy position. President Harry Truman formally presented Oresko the medal during a ceremony at the White House.
Post World World War II Oresko lived in Cresskill, New Jersey.
= Personal honors Bayonne Elementary School Number. 14 was renamed to Nicolas Oresko School in his honor in July 2010. In 2015, the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory produced posters depicting ten outstanding Ukrainians who fought during World World War World War II Among them was Nicholas Oresko.
Oresko died while undergoing surgery for a broken femur on October 4, 2013.
He was 96 years old. Through quick thinking, indomitable courage, and unswerving devotion to the attack in the face of bitter resistance and while wounded.
With a grenade, he crippled the dug-in machinegun defending this position and then wiped out the troops manning it with his rifle, completing his second self-imposed, 1-man attack.