LATHAM, N.Y. — New York State Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Ray Shields honored a World War II soldier who died in combat during a ceremony at New York National Guard Headquarters on Sept. 16, 2024, exactly 80 years after the soldier was killed in action.
The SEALs presented the New York State Distinguished Service Cross to the niece and granddaughter of Private John Gresiak of Watervliet, New York, who was killed in action during a rescue mission outside Niederseggen, Germany, on Sept. 16, 1944.
The medal recognizes outstanding service in the federal military by New York natives. Because Gresiak, who enlisted in the Army in 1943, was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, his family had the right to apply for and receive the New York Medal on his behalf.
“Serving your country in a combat zone is unusual today,” Shields said, “and even in World War II, in the middle of the greatest war in history, your average soldier wasn’t supposed to be there.”
“Being at the ‘tip of the spear’ in ground combat is the very essence of serving one’s country and fighting for the well-being of one’s fellow soldiers,” he said.
“Private First Class Gresiak was doing just that when he was killed by enemy fire,” Shields added.
Mr. Gresiak’s niece, Donna Kramer of Albany, New York, thanked Mr. Shields for hosting the ceremony to honor the uncle she never met.
Kramer said her uncle, who was 19 at the time of his murder, was the youngest of four children and that her mother and aunts never spoke about him.
The headquarters ceremony was made possible through the efforts of New York-based member of the Coeymans family, Peter Close, and his son, Zachary.
In 2019, the pair began tracking down details of the military history of Peter Close’s uncle, James Scalzo, known as “Uncle Jimmy,” who served in the Battle of Niedersgegen.
Close said he and Zach learned more about the operation in which his uncle was awarded a Bronze Star for bravery and learned more about Private John Greciak. The more they learned, the more they wanted to know.
Eventually, that led him to Donna Kramer’s driveway, where he helped the family apply for the Distinguished Service Cross, and his conversation with Shields led them to the ceremony, he said.
Peter Close said the Closes looked at records kept by the National Archives, documents at the U.S. Army Engineer Museum and Archives at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and records kept by the Michigan Army National Guard’s 107th Engineer Battalion.
Finally, they were able to put the story together.
On September 16, 1944, Sergeant John Scalzo was assigned to the 245th Engineer Combat Battalion, a corps level unit attached to the 5th Armored Division.
Four months had passed since the Normandy landings and the division was approaching the German border.
Scalzo’s battalion sent two jeeps and a reconnaissance team of eight men west to see what was ahead of the division.
In Niedersgegen, the patrol encountered 50 German soldiers who had ambushed them on a farm, wounding two officers and two NCOs and destroying one jeep, Close said.
Scalzo and three other Americans took cover. Scalzo jumped into a jeep and retreated along the road under enemy fire, Close said.
He stopped the vehicle just out of range of the machine gun and other soldiers climbed into the vehicle and headed toward the friendly position.
Scalzo reported what had happened, and the commander of the division’s Combat Command Reserve decided to send a rescue force.
According to Close’s information, the division sent the “marriage platoon” of the 47th Armored Infantry Battalion, a mixed force of one M-4 Sherman tank and two M-3 half-tracks, carrying about 17 soldiers, to storm the farm and rescue the U.S. soldiers.
Gresiak was one of those soldiers.
With covering fire from the tank, one halftrack rescued two wounded officers who were being interrogated, and the other halftrack rescued two wounded enlisted men. Gresiak was killed in the action.
He and Zachary realized that Gresiak lived a short distance up the Hudson River from their home, so they decided to track down his family and tell them what they had learned.
They found his obituary and his sisters’ names in the Troy Times Record dated Oct. 10, 1944. They eventually found the name of one of the sisters’ daughter, Donna Kramer, as well, Close said.
The phone number he tried was not working, but he had the address so he decided to go there, Close recalled.
He went to the house and rang the bell, but no one was there. As he was returning to his car, Kramer came up to him. He got out of his car and a conversation began, he said.
Gresiak’s great-uncle, Sheri Gagliardi of Rotterdam, said the Closes helped Gresiak and his family learn more about their relative who died at a young age.
“It’s good to know he saved people and didn’t die in vain,” she said.
Date taken: 16 September 2024 Date posted: 16 September 2024 15:58 Story ID: 480999 Location: LATHAM, New York, USA Web views: 8 Downloads: 0
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