Congress Bob Goodlatte awarded the Bronze Star to Charles D. Easter last week at his Roanoke office.
In April of 1945 Easter and his 34th “Red Bull” Infantry Division were in the Italian War Zone and as the #1 Scout, Easter’s job was to report German enemy positions back to the platoon leader. Easter reported that while he had some help from Italian Partisans in the vicinity that they were ultimately “mostly in the way” of American efforts to drive the Germans out.
He also reported that fire fights were generally brief as the Germans were retreating towards Switzerland and that they wound up capturing many of them. He also mentioned that one of the highlights of the campaign was liberating the city of Bologna from German occupation.
As a soldier who had received the Combat Infantry Badge, Easter was eligible for the Bronze Star as well.
