21 September

PVT JOHN R. TOWLE
Co C, 504th Parachute Infantry
82d Airborne Division
Oosterhout, Holland
21 September 1944

Pvt. Towle served as rocket launcher gunner and was occupying a defensive position in the west sector Nijmegen bridgehead.  Towle observed approximately 100 enemy infantry supported by 2 tanks and a half-track staging for a counterattack.

Knowing the importance of holding the bridgehead, Pvt. Towle left his foxhole and moved 200 yards in the face of Intense enemy fire. He took a position on a dike roadbed from where he had a clear field of fire, Pvt. Towle fired his rocket launcher twice, hitting both tanks.

Pvt. Towle then engaged 9 Germans who were using a house as a strongpoint.  One round from his launcher dispatched all nine. Towle went to the rear to replenish his ammunition then charged forward again 125 yards through grazing enemy fire to gain a position where he could again engage the enemy.

Towle was kneeling and firing on the enemy vehicle when he was mortally wounded by enemy mortar fire.

Pvt. Towle is credited with saving many Paratrooper lives and was directly instrumental in breaking up the enemy counterattack.