

Rank and organization: Master
Sergeant,
U.S.
Army, Company C, 302d Infantry, 94th Infantry Division. Place
and date: Near
Tettington,
Germany,
23 January 1945. Entered service at:
Bayonne, N.J. Birth: 18 January 1917,
Bayonne,
N.J. G.O.
No.: 95, 30
October 1945. Citation:
M/Sgt. Oresko was a platoon leader with
Company C, in an attack against strong enemy positions. Deadly automatic fire from the flanks pinned
down his unit. Realizing that a
machine-gun in a nearby bunker must be eliminated, he swiftly worked ahead
alone, braving bullets which struck about him, until close enough to throw a
grenade into the German position. He
rushed the bunker and, with pointblank rifle fire, killed all the hostile
occupants who survived the grenade blast.
Another machine-gun opened up on him, knocking him down and seriously
wounding him in the hip. Refusing to
withdraw from the battle, he placed himself at the head of his platoon to
continue the assault. As withering
machine-gun and rifle fire swept the area, he struck out alone in advance of
his men to a second bunker. With a
grenade, he crippled the dug‑in machine-gun defending this position and
then wiped out the troops manning it with his rifle, completing his second self‑imposed,
1‑man attack. Although weak from
loss of blood, he refused to be evacuated until assured the mission was
successfully accomplished. Through quick
thinking, indomitable courage, and unswerving devotion to the attack in the
face of bitter resistance and while wounded, M/Sgt. Oresko
killed 12 Germans, prevented a delay in the assault, and made it possible for
Company C to obtain its objective with minimum casualties.