09/05/2026
U.S. Army Sergeant Gino Joseph Merli of Scranton, Pennsylvania, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary actions on September 4, 1944 near Sars-la-Bruyère, Belgium.
Merli joined the Army in July 1943 and served with the 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. He participated in the D-Day Invasion in 1944 and in the Battle of the Bulge in December of the same year.
On the evening of September 4, 1944, near Sars-la-Bruyère in Belgium (now a deelgemeente of Frameries), his company was attacked by a superior German force. Their position was overwhelmed, but PFC Merli stayed with his machine gun covering their retreat. When his position was overrun, he feigned death while German soldiers prodded him with their bayonets, only to rise and confront the enemy when they withdrew. Twice, he fooled German soldiers into believing he was no longer a threat, only to attack them again when they left him for dead. In the morning, a counterattack forced the Germans to ask for a truce. The negotiating party found Merli still at his gun.
He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on September 4, 19444. In addition, Merli received two Purple Hearts, the Bronze Star, and the Humanitarian Award of the Chapel of Four Chaplains for his actions during World War II.
After the war, Merli was an adjudication officer for the Veterans Administration Medical Center and was a source of inspiration for Tom Brokaw’s book, The Greatest Generation. He died in 2002 at the age of 78.
