Charles Andrew MacGillivary was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. At age 16, he joined the Merchant Marines and immigrated to the United States to live with a family member in Boston, Massachusetts.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in January 1942, then-24-year-old MacGillivary joined the Army.

When in boot camp, as he recalled, “An officer asked me and two other immigrants … whether we wanted to become U.S. citizens. [They took us] to a federal courthouse and [swore us] in before a judge. I thought that if I was going to fight for this country, I should be a U.S. citizen.” Notably, today, noncitizens who qualify for military service are eligible for citizenship once honorably discharged.

After basic training, MacGillivary was assigned to Company I, 71st Infantry Regiment, 44th Infantry Division, and went to Scotland to train with British commandos. His unit was part of the D-Day landing in France, and he was involved with many combat actions before reaching Woelfling on the French-German border in mid-December 1944 on the front end of the Battle of the Bulge.

It was in the heat of this battle at Bastogne when Army BG Anthony McAuliffe famously replied to a German demand that the Americans surrender: “Nuts.”

On New Year’s Day 1945, MacGillivary was a Sergeant serving as commander of the 463rd Battalion’s Company I, after his platoon’s more senior officer had been killed. On that freezing winter day, he and his men were pinned down during a massive German attack by the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, a Waffen-SS panzer unit.

They were trapped in deep forest snow, and his men had been discussing surrender for a week. “The Germans were promising Americans Christmas dinner if they surrendered,” he recalled, “but they’d just march the Americans with hands over their heads in front of a tank and shoot them.”

Low on ammunition and virtually surrounded, MacGillivary knew, “As the head of my company, I had a duty to do something.”

And what he did was single-handedly attack multiple German machine gun positions with grenades and enemy machine guns he picked up along the way: “I thought that this was the only way we were going to get out.”

According to his Medal of Honor citation: “Knowing the position of the enemy, Sgt. MacGillivary volunteered to knock out one of the guns while another company closed in from the right to assault the remaining strongpoints. He circled from the left through woods and snow, carefully worked his way to the emplacement, and shot the two camouflaged gunners at a range of three feet as other enemy forces withdrew.”

Then, as his Company “was being opposed by about six machine guns,” “he voluntarily embarked on a lone combat patrol.”

His citation continues: “Skillfully taking advantage of all available cover, he stalked the enemy, reached a hostile machine gun, and blasted its crew with a grenade. He picked up a submachine gun from the battlefield and pressed on to within 10 yards of another machine gun, where the enemy crew discovered him and feverishly tried to swing their weapon into line to cut him down. He charged ahead, jumped into the midst of the Germans, and killed them with several bursts. Without hesitation, he moved on to still another machine gun, creeping, crawling, and rushing from tree to tree, until close enough to toss a grenade into the emplacement and close with its defenders. He dispatched this crew also, but was himself seriously wounded.”

The “serious wound” MacGillivary suffered when taking on that last machine-gun position occurred when a wounded German hit him with a nearly fatal shot. He returned fire, killing the German, but then, “I looked down, and my left arm wasn’t there.”

As he recounted, “When you get hit by a machine gun, it’s like somebody put a hot poker in you. I stuck the stump of my arm into the snow, but the warm blood melted the snow. I kept scooping snow around it till my hand was freezing. I figured I was dying. When they rescued me, my arm had a cake of bloody ice frozen around it, sealing the wound. If it had been summer, I’d be dead.”

His citation concludes, “Through his indomitable fighting spirit, great initiative, and utter disregard for personal safety in the face of powerful enemy resistance, Sgt. MacGillivary destroyed four hostile machine guns and immeasurably helped his company to continue on its mission with minimum casualties.” In the process, he killed 36 German soldiers manning those machine-gun positions.

Almost 19,000 Americans were killed over the course of the bloody six-week Battle of the Bulge.

On August 23, 1945, MacGillivary was one of 28 World War II service members who received Medals of Honor in a White House ceremony. The War Department noted the reason so many men were decorated in a single ceremony was because most had been severely wounded, which delayed their award ceremonies.

MacGillivary also received a Purple Heart with three oak leaf clusters, the Distinguished Service Cross, a Bronze Star, the Soldier’s Medal, and the French Croix de Guerre.

In retrospect, MacGillivary said: “All I was doing was fighting for my life. The guys were freezing to death, and my main ambition was to get us out of there. The real hero is the person who lays down his life.” He added: “I was very honored to have been included among so many distinguished recipients. I was also very proud that I, as an immigrant, had been selected to receive this award.”

After the War, he returned to Boston and married his sweetheart, Esther, and they would have three daughters. He became an agent for the United States Customs Office of Investigations, conducting special investigations. He retired from the Customs Service in 1975. He also served as president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society from 1973 to 1975.

Charles died at age 83 on June 24, 2000. Esther preceded him in death a year earlier.

T/SGT Charles MacGillivary: Your example of valor — a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty, and in disregard for the peril to your own life — is eternal.

“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

Live your life worthy of his sacrifice.

(Read more Profiles of Valor here.)

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776

Follow Mark Alexander on X/Twitter.

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