'The Greatest Soldier in American History' Took a Tank Round to the Leg and Kept Fighting

On Sept. 4, 1944, Capt. Matt Urban (born Matty Urbanowitz) was carried off a battlefield near Philippeville, Belgium. He'd been given his last rites and was not expected to survive the machine gun rounds that hit him in the neck. But not only did he survive, he returned to duty, his neck wounds unique only in that they kept him from a combat command. The truth was that they were just the latest in a long line of wounds.

Urban had been fighting World War II for as long as the United States was in the war. A graduate of Cornell University, he attended the school through a ROTC scholarship and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army in May 1941. So when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor that December, Urban was ready to respond in kind. Although he never saw the Pacific Theater, he instead fought in six campaigns throughout Europe and North Africa and was wounded seven times.

The only reason Urban didn't receive the Medal of Honor for single-handedly breaking an entire battalion through France while wounded was because the people who were supposed to recommend him for the award were killed or captured. But the accounts of everyone who watched him mount a tank under heavy fire in Normandy were "remarkably consistent" even 35 years later: Matt Urban was fearless in the face of the enemy.

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Urban began his Army career with 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and would end up spending much of the war with his unit, eventually rising to battalion commander. Although severely wounded, he would stay in the theater leading his men in some form until they all went home after the war's end -- and there was a lot of fighting in between.

Urban first saw combat in November 1942 during Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa. The 60th Infantry landed on the Moroccan coast, fighting the Vichy French. By February of the following year, Urban and the 60th Infantry were fighting the Germans in Tunisia. His unit was hit on all four sides by two enemy battalions. After four hours of fighting, the Americans had held firm. His unit received a Presidential Unit Citation while Urban received shrapnel from a grenade and his first Silver Star.

A few months later, Urban and the 60th Infantry landed at Sicily, where they were instrumental in breaking a stalemate in the center of the islands. On Aug. 5, 1943, under the cover of darkness, the 60th crept through the mountains toward the contested, mountainous village of Troina. German and Allied artillery were dueling for supremacy in the area, because it was perfect for providing support fire in any direction. The 60th surprised the German artillery, forcing not only its withdrawal, but the withdrawal of all Axis forces in the area. Urban received a second Silver Star and was sent to England to prepare for the Allied invasion of Europe.

Urban didn't land on Utah Beach on D-Day, but that didn't spare him from any intense fighting. Like many Allied infantry units, he got caught in the hedgerows of the French countryside. He arrived in France on June 11, 1944, and was facing down Germans three days later. As his company was held up by two incoming enemy tanks, their bazooka gunner went down. Urban called on an ammo carrier to follow him as he picked up the bazooka and took out both of them.

That same day, he was staring down German tanks with a bazooka yet again, this time near Orglandes, but the German fired first. The 37-mm tank gun round tore through his leg, but he refused to leave the field. After a medic attended to his wound, he kept directing the action while being carried on a stretcher. It wasn't until he was wounded again the next day (this time in the arm) that he was forced to a field hospital. Surgeons worked on his tank-shredded calf and then sent him to England.

While Urban recuperated, the 60th Infantry pushed ahead across the French countryside. By July 25, they were near the French commune of Saint-Lô. Back in England, Urban had taken to training troops who were bound for Normandy so he wouldn't be evacuated to the United States. When a group of them boarded a troop carrier bound for the front, Urban simply hopped on board. He showed up at the 2nd Battalion's command post with a limp and a cane to take command of his old unit.

When Urban finally caught up with his unit, they were held up by two destroyed Allied tanks, a third with no gunner or commander and a hail of intense enemy fire. He created a plan of attack, but the tank's officer and another soldier were killed trying to get to their tank. Urban, despite watching two fully capable people being gunned down in the same attempt, crawled to and mounted the tank with his bad leg and took the role of both machine gunner and commander.

The tank lurched forward as he blasted away at the Germans. The entire battalion, inspired by what they had witnessed, also moved forward and overran the German lines. Urban would be wounded by shrapnel yet again, this time taking the blow to his chest. Just a few days later, the 2nd Battalion commander who recommended Urban for the Medal of Honor was killed in action. His command post clerk, who was actually writing the recommendation, was captured by the Germans. Urban still refused evacuation as they pressed onward toward Belgium.

Just a month later, in September 1944, Urban and the 60th Infantry were attempting to cross the Meuse River at a heavily defended crossing near Heer. He would be shot in the neck while charging a German machine-gun nest with grenades. He ultimately survived, but his larynx was permanently disabled. He was promoted to major and sent to England once more to recover. By December 1944, he was well enough to take a liberty pass to Scotland, but instead of heading north, he once again rejoined his men across the English Channel at Elsenborn, Germany. But with his permanently raspy voice, he was refused a combat command and sent back to England.

Urban would stay in the Army until after the war was over. He returned home to Michigan, where he spent the rest of his life. Staff Sgt. Earl G. Evans, the command post clerk who was captured by the Germans, finished writing Urban's Medal of Honor recommendation, but it seemed no one read it until June 1978. That's when one of his men submitted a Freedom of Information Act request about it. They wanted to know why he had never received the award. The Army had no objections about it, so it finally went forward.

On July 19, 1980, President Jimmy Carter presented the Medal of Honor to Urban in a White House ceremony. With a reading of his lengthy medal citation, the president called Urban "the greatest soldier in American history."

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