Chattanooga National Cemetery

From Wikipedia.

Charles H. Coolidge, one of the country's remaining two World War II Medal of Honor recipients died recently and was buried at the Chattanooga National Cemetery in Tennessee.  I'd never heard of it and wondered if their were any famous people buried there.

As of 2014, it had over 50,000 internments.

It was established in 1863 by the order of General George Henry Thomas after the Civil ar battles of Chattanooga as a place to bury dead Union soldiers.  It became Chattanooga National Cemetery in 1867 and by 1870, had more than 12,000 internments, most of them unknown.  Many were reinterred from other Civil War battlefields, including 1,500 from he Battle of Chickamauga.

During World War I, 78 German prisoners and World War II, 108 German prisoners  who died in captivity were buried there.

--  GreGen

Charles H. Coolidge, Medal of Honor Recipient, Die-- Part 2: For Action in France

After North Africa, his unit was sent to Italy where he was a sergeant and machine gun section leader.  He was awarded a Silver Star for action there on May 31, 1944.

On October  24, 1944, Coolidge was a technical sergeant in charge of a group of machine gunners and riflemen  of M Company and were ordered to hold a vital hilltop position in France near the German border.

During four days of attacks at Hill 623, east of Belmont-sur-Buttant in France, Coolidge and his group held off numerous enemy infantrymen, plus two tanks on October 27 using grenades.  One tank unsuccessfully fired five separate rounds directly at Coolidge.

For his actions above and beyond the call of duty during the battle, Coolidge was presented  the Medal of Honor by Lieutenant General  Wade H. Haislip during a ceremony at an airfield near Domstadt, Germany, on June 18, 1945.

He is interred at the Chattanooga National Cemetery beside his wife.

--GreGen

Charles Henry Coolidge, Medal of Honor Recipient-- Part 1: From Tennessee

The article I used about this man's death didn't have much about his military career or the action that got him his Medal of Honor, so I had to go elsewhere.

From Wikipedia.

(August 4, 1921-April 6, 2021)

United States Army technical sergeant and recipient  on the military's highest decoration of valor, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in France during World War II.

At the time of his death, he was the only surviving Medal of Honor recipient from the European Theater of the war.

Born in South Mountain, Tennessee, and graduated from Chattanooga High School.  Received basic training at Fort McClellan in Alabama  and then sent to Camp Butner in North Carolina and Camp Edwards in Massachusetts, where he was assigned to M Company, 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division.

In April 1943, he unit was shipped overseas to Oran, Algeria, to participate in the North Africa Campaign.

--GreGen