Paul Bolden joined the US Army from Madison, Alabama, in 1942. After completing his training, Bolden and the 120th Infantry, of the 30th Infantry Division (his company) were assigned to the action in the European Theater. By 1944, Bolden had been raised from the rank of Private to Staff Sergeant (S/Sgt), and was in Belgium fighting the Germans.
On December 23, 1944, in Petit-Coo, Belgium, Bolden's unit was trapped by heavy automatic and small-arms fire from the Germans. Mortar and tank artillery shells also pounded the area where Bolden's unit hunkered down, its source being a house 200 yards in front of them. To relieve the unit, S/Sgt Bolden and a comrade volunteered to take out the guns holding the whole unit back. Though both were aware that the German force was vastly superior, they did not hesitate to crawl and sneak their way to the house hosting the enemy force. S/Sgt Bolden crouched under a window in preparation for entering the building, while his partner took up a position across the street so as to provide cover. Quickly tossing in a fragmentation grenade and a white phosphorous (smoke) grenade, Bolden used them as cover as he entered the building and opened fire on the 35 confused SS troops (major paramilitary group under Hitler). With this first assault, Bolden killed 20 of the Germans with his submachine gun before being injured in a blast. Shrapnel embedded itself in his shoulder, chest, and stomach; however, Bolden was lucky, for his comrade was killed in the blast and not just injured. Withdrawing from the house, S/Sgt Bolden waited outside, expecting the remaining Germans to come out and surrender. When they did not, he ignored his pain, gathered his strength, and reentered the building with his gun blazing for a second time. Bolden killed the remaining 15 soldiers before running out of ammunition. S/Sgt Bolden was awarded the Medal of Honor for his courage in attacking a superior enemy and continuing until the job was finished despite his injuries.
Bolden was also awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star w/ 3 oak leaf clusters, the Purple Heart w/ an oak leaf cluster, the Good Conduct Medal w/ 2 loops, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal w/ 4 bronze stars, the WWII Victory Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal (Germany), the Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Belgium Croix De Guerre w/ palm for his service during WWII.
Bolden retired from the military after the end of the war in 1945. A section of Highway 53 in Alabama was named after S/Sgt Bolden in 2013. Bolden died in 1979 from cancer.
Sources Consulted:
Army Website, Medal of Honor Recipients, WWII
The National Archives, Access to Archival Databases, Enlistment Records
