Aug. 25, 1962 - A soldier who won the Medal of Honor in World War II for rushing into the fire of three German machine guns and destroying them with a submachine gun will retire in Fort Dix, N.J. on Sept. 1. The medal winner, Capt. Freeman V. Horner (pictured), will be honored at his retirement by a review of the Fourth Training Regiment on the post parade ground. Captain Horner, who is 40 and has been in the Army 20 years, lives with his wife and three children in Mount Holly. He will be working in the Philadelphia district office of the Acacia Mutual Life Insurance Company. He was a 22-year-old staff sergeant and member of Company K of the 119th Infantry Regiment when he won the medal for “extraordinary courage and gallantry.” On Nov. 16, 1944, while advancing on Würselen, Germany, the sergeant’s unit was pinned by enemy machine gun fire in an open field. Artillery shells were hitting his men. Sergeant Horner seized his submachine gun and rushed two firing German machine guns. A third opened fire at a range of 50 yards. A short burst killed the men behind it. The other Germans abandoned their guns and fled into a nearby cellar. They surrendered after Sergeant Horner had thrown two grenades down the stairs. He had killed or captured seven of the enemy and cleared the way for the advance on Würselen.
