HARRISBURG – A Warren County man who died while fighting in the
Vietnam War will have a memorial marker commemorating his life and
service record placed in Soldiers Grove at the state Capitol
complex after a nearly 20-year wait.
The announcement was made Wednesday by state Rep. Kathy Rapp,
R-Warren.
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. John Gertsch, the county’s only
Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, was killed in action on
July 19, 1969. He is also a five-time Silver Star recipient.
A marker honoring Gertsch, which will be unveiled during a
public ceremony on June 4, was never placed at the Capitol, in
part, because of a bureaucratic discrepancy over his home
address.
“For far too long, Staff Sgt. John Gertsch’s selfless sacrifices
for his platoon, his Commonwealth and his country have been
unjustifiably ‘Missing In Honor’ from Soldiers Grove where they
rightfully belong,” said Rapp.
Soldiers Grove was specifically designated in 1987 to provide a
central location to permanently honor Pennsylvania’s veterans of
foreign wars, according to Rapp, a member of the House Veterans
Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee.
Subsequently, in 1992, former Gov. Robert P. Casey commissioned
the Medal of Honor Memorial at Soldiers Grove to honor Pennsylvania
veterans of foreign wars who are recipients of the country’s
highest Medal of Honor.
Rapp launched an investigation into the absence of a marker for
Gertsch after visiting Soldiers Grove in July 2006 and discovering
he was not represented.
Working together with House Veterans Affairs Committee Executive
Director Rick O’Leary, the lawmaker was able to uncover that
although Gertsch listed Russell as his “Home of Record” on all
military documents, the state Department of General Services denied
his right to be honored with a memorial due to the fact that he
entered the service in nearby Buffalo, N.Y., rather than traveling
to the next closest Military Entrance Processing Center in
Pittsburgh.
Due to the combined efforts of Rapp, members of the John Gertsch
Memorial Home Association, Warren County Veterans Affairs Director
Edgar Burris, Warren County resident and Gertsch’s Sheffield High
School classmate Howard Brush, Speaker Emeritus John Perzel,
R-Philadelphia, and Adjutant General Jessica Wright in raising
awareness of this common enlistment practice, Department of General
Services Secretary James Creedon, stated in a Jan. 17 letter to
Rapp that Soldiers Grove will now be open to all Medal of Honor
recipients that list any location in the Commonwealth as their
“Home of Record.”
Officials said Gertsch distinguished himself while serving as a
platoon sergeant and platoon leader during combat operations in the
A Shau Valley. During the initial phase of an operation to seize a
strongly defended enemy position, Gertsch’s platoon leader was
seriously wounded and lay exposed to intense enemy fire.
Forsaking his own safety, without hesitation Gertsch rushed to
aid his fallen leader and dragged him to a sheltered position. He
then assumed command of the heavily engaged platoon and led his men
in a fierce counterattack that forced the enemy to withdraw.
Later, a small element of Gertsch’s unit was reconnoitering when
attacked again by the enemy. Gertsch moved forward to his besieged
element and immediately charged, firing as he advanced.
His determined assault forced the enemy troops to withdraw in
confusion and made possible the recovery of two wounded men who had
been exposed to heavy enemy fire. Sometime later his platoon came
under attack by an enemy force employing automatic weapons, grenade
and rocket fire.
Gertsch was severely wounded during the onslaught but continued
to command his platoon despite his painful wound. While moving
under fire and encouraging his men he sighted an aidman treating a
wounded officer from an adjacent unit. Realizing that both men were
in imminent danger of being killed, he rushed forward and
positioned himself between them and the enemy nearby.
While the wounded officer was being moved to safety, Gertsch was
mortally wounded by enemy fire.
