Hank Bergman - Po Valley

Po Valley

According to an article by Sargent Marvin Posner, U.S. Army Infantry, who served with the "Blue Devils" of the 88th Infantry Division, and the 10th Mountain Division, Posner was in Italy's Po Valley hunkered down in a foxhole while shells and bullets whistled all around; "Suddenly, someone jumped into the foxhole, finger on the pin of a grenade, and landed on Marvin's shoulders.It was Hank Bergman, a member of the Easterwood Boys, friend of the Jackson Club guys and a neighbor. " What the hell are you doing here?" questioned Hank when he recognized Marvin. Hank had been ordered by his captain to take out a German machine gun nest about 15 yards atop a knob. Still holding the grenade pin, Hank jumped off Marvin's shoulders, crawled on his belly and headed for the right flank while Marvin attempted to distract the Germans' attention. They were fighting for their lives against a superior weapon-the fastest machine gun in the world used by the Germans that could replace an empty barrel in one-fifth of one second just by a flip of the lever. Marvin killed one German manning the machine gun. A loud bang was heard. A grenade thrown by Hank, a former baseball pitcher, destroyed the enemy's machine gun nest."