‘One man army’ Alton Knappenberger dies
Won Medal of Honor for WW II valor, but lived quiet post-war life in Earl Township.
By David Venditta | Of The Morning Call
June 13, 2008
Alton W. Knappenberger, who was born in Coopersburg, worked on a pig farm and received the nation’s highest military honor during World War II, died of natural causes Monday in Pottstown Memorial Hospital. He was 84.
Pfc. Knappenberger, an Army draftee, was awarded the Medal of Honor for acting with ”conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity” in his first and only combat experience just days after the Allied landing at Anzio, Italy, in 1944.
He picked up a Browning automatic rifle, ran alone to a knoll and held off a German attack for more than two hours near Cisterna di Latina, 30 miles from Nazi-held Rome, on Feb. 1, 1944. The field was littered with 60 German dead.
”Knappie,” as his buddies called him, served in Company C, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. His commanding general called him ”a one-man army.” He went home to the Perkiomen Valley in August 1944 amid wide acclaim and pitched war bonds.
But throughout the rest of his life he shunned publicity, seeking a return to obscurity. He drove a truck, laid blacktop and ran backhoes. He lived in a trailer in the woods of Earl Township, Berks County, near Boyertown.
His life story appeared in The Morning Call on Memorial Day 2004.
With his death, only 28 of the 464 Medal of Honor recipients from World War II survive.
“A true hero of the common man, where each of your days, not just one, gave to us all.”
Technorati Tags: WWII, WWarII, Medal of Honor, Veteran, Funeral
Author Bio: World War II researcher and historian working to preserve history and educate future generations. A student of Military History working to author and collect as much data as possible on the WWII time period. 
