TOMINAC, JOHN J. Medal of
Honor
Rank
and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company 1, 15th infantry, 3d
Infantry Division. Place and date: Saulx de Vesoul, France, 12 September 1944.
Entered service at: Conemaugh, Pa. Birth:
Conemaugh, Pa. G.O. No.: 20, 29 March 1945. Citation: For conspicuous
gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty an
12 September 1944, in an attack on Saulx de Vesoul, France. lst Lt. Tominac
charged alone over 50 yards of exposed terrain onto an enemy roadblock to
dispatch a 3-man crew of German machine gunners with a single burst from his
Thompson machinegun. After smashing the enemy outpost, he led one of his squads
in the annihilation of a second hostile group defended by mortar, machinegun, automatic
pistol, rifle and grenade fire, killing about 30 of the enemy. Reaching the
suburbs of the town, he advanced 50 yards ahead of his men to reconnoiter a
third enemy position which commanded the road with a 77-mm. SP gun supported by
infantry elements. The SP gun opened fire on his supporting tank, setting it
afire with a direct hit. A fragment from the same shell painfully wounded Ist
Lt. Tominac in the shoulder, knocking him to the ground. As the crew abandoned
the M-4 tank, which was rolling down hill toward the enemy, ist Lt. Tominac
picked himself up and jumped onto the hull of the burning vehicle. Despite
withering enemy machinegun, mortar, pistol, and sniper fire, which was
ricocheting off the hull and turret of the M-4, Ist Lt. Tominac climbed to the
turret and gripped the 50-caliber antiaircraft machinegun. Plainly silhouetted
against the sky, painfully wounded, and with the tank burning beneath his feet,
he directed bursts of machinegun fire on the roadblock, the SP gun, and the
supporting German infantrymen, and forced the enemy to withdraw from his
prepared position. Jumping off the tank before it exploded, Ist Lt. Tominac
refused evacuation despite his painful wound. Calling upon a sergeant to
extract the shell fragments from his shoulder with a pocketknife, he continued
to direct the assault, led his squad in a handgrenade attack against a
fortified position occupied by 32 of the enemy armed with machineguns, machine
pistols, and rifles, and compelled them to surrender. His outstanding heroism
and exemplary leadership resulted in the destruction of 4 successive enemy
defensive positions, surrender of a vital sector of the city Saulx de Vesoul,
and the death or capture of at least 60 of the enemy.
His
people are from Croatia.