ELAND, Wisconsin – Earl Chrudimsky had barely been in the Army six months when he was rushed to Belgium for the Battle of the Bulge. He fought heroically and was seriously wounded in that action to resist the German army’s final desperate offensive in the Ardennes.

Sixty-one years later, several military awards for Chrudimsky’s World War II service, to include a Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart, finally caught up to the now 80-year-old veteran, April 12.
In early January 1945, Chrudimsky was assigned as an Infantryman in the 1st Infantry Division’s 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, and his unit was dug in to prevent the advance of enemy tanks and infantry. When one of his company’s machine gunners was killed, Chrudimsky took over until the gun ran out of ammunition. Then he manned another machine gun until all that ammo was gone as well. Despite the Americans’ best efforts, the German assault proved overpowering, and Chrudimsky’s unit was forced to withdraw. That’s when he was wounded – on Jan. 3, 1945.

With a gunshot wound to the shoulder and disabled from the loss of blood, Chrudimsky was taken prisoner. A German medic treated his shoulder, and Chrudimsky was transported to Stalag III-C near Alt-Drewitz, Germany (now Drzewice, Poland).
After the Red Army liberated the prisoner of war camp, he was eventually moved again – this time to a Soviet hospital in Odessa. Chrudimsky they had two hospital stays in Italy and two more in the United States. By the time Chrudimsky was discharged Sept. 19, 1945, the war had been over for a month.

As the war ended, so did Chrudimsky’s service to the Army and the Big Red One. The awards he should have received for his combat service had been overlooked, almost forgotten … until now.
In addition to the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart, Chrudimsky was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge and the Honorable Service Lapel Button April 12 for his World War II service 61 years earlier.
The awards were presented by BG Kerry Denson, commander of the Wisconsin Army National Guard, who himself is a decorated combat veteran. (Story courtesy of the Wisconsin Army and Air National Guard)