Raymond Beaudoin entered into service with the US Army at Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1941. In 1945, Beaudoin was a first lieutenant (1st Lt.) serving the US overseas in Germany.
On April 6, 1945, 1st Lt. Beaudoin was leading the second Platoon of Company F, 119th Infantry, 30th Infantry Division to Hamelin, Germany, over open terrain. While they were crossing this open field, Germans opened fire upon them, using machine guns and automatic weapons. Beaudoin and his unit were pinned to the ground, unable to move while trying to avoid the German bullets. Beaudoin adeptly rotated his troops while on the ground to give them the ability to dig in for a bit of defense against the bullets, and he formed firing positions from which his units could defend offensively. At first, Beaudoin moved from position to position distributing ammunition, before settling himself in the most advanced firing position – the one closest to the German line. From this position, Beaudoin killed six Germans and directed his men so they could effectively impact the larger German force. Beaudoin and his unit held their own against the enemy forces until a reinforcement of enemy troops caused their position to be more precarious. Three times, Beaudoin sent messengers to retrieve more ammunition and help, but all were shot down by a German sniper. Becoming desperate, Beaudoin determined that he would make a one-man assault on the most deadly of the Germans’ sniper nests in the hopes that it would distract the enemy gunners enough so that a fourth runner could slip through the line of fire for help. Moving along the ground in a crawl to make himself a smaller target, Beaudoin covered the 90 yards to the sniper nest safely, despite rifle and bazooka fire eating up the ground around him. Ten yards from the nest, Beaudoin stood up and ran at it with his gun blazing. He killed two of the occupants with bullets; a third came at him with a bayonet, but was overpowered and killed with the butt of Beaudoin's carbine (short rifle). A fourth was killed by the men in Beaudoin’s unit as he attempted to escape. Although Beaudoin next advanced toward a dugout nearby, he was shot down by a burst of machine gun fire before he could make it. Through Beaudoin's bravery and sacrifice in distracting the enemy, a runner was able to reach help and his platoon was rescued. 1st Lt. Beaudoin received the Medal of Honor posthumously for the actions described above.
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