World War II Medal of Honor Recipient. He was killed in action. He served as a Sergeant in the United States Army in Company A, 142d Infantry, 36th Infantry Division. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for action on February 1-2 1945 at Oberhoffen, France. His citation reads in part "At dawn of 2 February, Sgt. Deleau pressed forward with his unit, killing two snipers as he advanced to a point where machine-gun fire from a house barred the way. Despite vicious small-arms fire, Sgt Deleau ran across an open area to reach the rear of the building, where he destroyed one machine gun and killed its two operators with a grenade. He worked to the front of the structure and located a second machine gun. Finding it impossible to toss a grenade into the house from his protected position, he fearlessly moved away from the building and was about to hurl his explosive when he was instantly killed by a burst from the gun he sought to knock out. With magnificent courage and daring aggressiveness, Sgt. Deleau cleared four well-defended houses of Germans, inflicting severe losses on the enemy, and at the sacrifice of his own life aided his battalion to reach its objective with a minimum of casualties."
World War II Medal of Honor Recipient. He was killed in action. He served as a Sergeant in the United States Army in Company A, 142d Infantry, 36th Infantry Division. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for action on February 1-2 1945 at Oberhoffen, France. His citation reads in part "At dawn of 2 February, Sgt. Deleau pressed forward with his unit, killing two snipers as he advanced to a point where machine-gun fire from a house barred the way. Despite vicious small-arms fire, Sgt Deleau ran across an open area to reach the rear of the building, where he destroyed one machine gun and killed its two operators with a grenade. He worked to the front of the structure and located a second machine gun. Finding it impossible to toss a grenade into the house from his protected position, he fearlessly moved away from the building and was about to hurl his explosive when he was instantly killed by a burst from the gun he sought to knock out. With magnificent courage and daring aggressiveness, Sgt. Deleau cleared four well-defended houses of Germans, inflicting severe losses on the enemy, and at the sacrifice of his own life aided his battalion to reach its objective with a minimum of casualties."
Bio by: Don Morfe
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