World War II Medal of Honor Winner Stephen Gregg

Medal of Honor winner Stephen Gregg was a shipyard welder, a native of the Bronx who grew up in Bayonne, New Jersey. When he enlisted in 1942, he went off to join the United States Army with little fanfare. But when Medal of Honor winner Stephen Gregg returned to New Jersey in May of 1945, it was to a hero's welcome from a crowd of over 50,000 cheering onlookers! Indeed, Medal of Honor winner Stephen Gregg had reason to be proud, as his heroic actions less than a year earlier had saved the lives of at least seven of his comrades.

Born in New York in 1915, Gregg's parents, Adam and Ann, moved to Bayonne when he was but three months old. He attended Donohoe Elementary School and Henry Harris Junior High School before going to work at a New York City art gallery. Gregg was working in the shipyards of Kearny, New Jersey when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Although his job actually made him exempt from the draft, he joined up anyway, saying "I just wanted to go over." He initially took part in the Italian campaign, fighting at such places as Altavilla and the Rapido River. He once wrote of his experiences at the Rapido. "Crossing the Rapido River on our way to Rome, we had to cross this river not once but twice. We had to swim back after the second time, and this was in January. If you didn't get killed before you came to the river, after you crossed it you landed in Hell. ...the smoke almost chokes you, mud, invisible enemy firing from all angles, artillery, etc. After a few hundred yards we were told to dig in. Did you ever try to dig a hole in mud? Later that night we were told to get back to the starting point, not many made it back. The next day we tried again with the same result. Waste of young manhood."