Williamsport, Pa. — U.S. Rep. Glenn "GT" Thompson (PA-15) presented nine World War II service medals this morning to the family of the late Milford Browning, a Wood, Pa. native with family now in Lycoming County.
The ceremony was held in the third-floor conference room at 33 W. 3rd St. in Williamsport and was attended by Lycoming County Commissioners Scott Metzger, Marc Sortman and Mark Mussina, along with several generations of Browning's family.
Rep. Thompson present's Milford's Bronze Star Medal to Susan.
Susan Browning of Jersey Shore accepted the medals on behalf of her late father.
Military service
Browning was born in 1917 in Hyndman, Pa., and enlisted in the U.S. Army in October 1941, before the United States formally entered the war. He served in Company D, 302nd Infantry Regiment, 94th Infantry Division, and was assigned to a heavy weapons role, overseeing a .50-caliber machine gun crew, a .30-caliber crew and a mortar crew supporting front-line infantry.
Rep. Thompson holds up a photo of Milford in uniform.
Commissioner Sortman displays a more casual photo of Milford.
According to his daughter, Browning was initially trained for the West Coast defense at Fort Lewis in Washington state, prior to Pearl Harbor, out of concern the country could be attacked from the Pacific. He later crossed the Atlantic aboard the Queen Elizabeth along with roughly 5,000 other soldiers, without a naval escort, before deploying to the European theater.
Browning fought with the 94th Infantry Division through campaigns in Northern France, the Rhineland, the Ardennes and Central Europe, according to Thompson's office. His daughter said the division was attached to Gen. George S. Patton's Third Army and helped relieve the 101st Airborne at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, fighting through the Saar-Moselle triangle against a fortified section of the Siegfried Line.
"They were dug in like ticks, and it was a hard, hard road to push through," Susan Browning said.
She said her father described enduring one of the coldest winters in European history without proper winter gear, after Allied forces outran their supply lines.
Susan displays Milford's World War II Victory Medal to her family.
"They were cold, they were hungry, they were being bombarded left and right," she said. "Dad had his memories of crawling over his frozen dead friends in the foxholes, because the Allied forces were moving so fast, they outran their supply lines."
According to Browning's family, the 94th Infantry Division spent 209 consecutive days in combat.
"They were the spear to get into Germany," Susan Browning said, describing Patton's relentless pace. "I don't know how I feel about Patton — I don't know whether to love him or hate him, because he drove those men. There was no break. He drove them 209 days, because he wanted to get there before Montgomery did in the Seventh Army."
The family said the division also took part in the liberation of two concentration camps, and that Browning kept photographs from the liberation among his personal belongings.
The Lycoming County Commissioners and Rep. Thompson marvel at photos of Milford that family members passed around on their phones.
"Patton made sure that all of the servicemen witnessed and saw, because he wanted the world to know broadly and deeply what had occurred there," Susan Browning said. "I have the pictures today. If anyone says it didn't happen — oh, here's the pictures."
Browning was honorably discharged on Nov. 15, 1945, four months after the end of the war in Europe.
Postwar life
After returning home, Browning worked as a deputy game commissioner before reenlisting during the Korean War era.
Multiple generations of the Browning family admire Milford's Bronze Star Medal.
Given the option between deployment to Korea or occupation duty in Germany, he chose to return to Germany because of his familiarity with the country from his WWII service, his daughter said. He later used the GI Bill to train as a precision machinist and worked at Rayovac.
Susan Browning said her father did not come back from the war the same man who had left the small town of Wood.
"He was in the thick of it, so hand-to-hand combat was suffered, and unfortunately it stayed with him the rest of his life," she said.
She said her parents, Milford and Twila, were dating before the war and married while he was serving overseas. She said her mother, like many women of her generation, went to work in a munitions factory.
"Mom, like all the Rosie the Riveters of that era, went to work in a munitions factory. She was making the .50 calibers that they were shooting, that Dad was shooting," Susan said.
Browning's family gathered to see his medals awarded posthumously.Â
She said her father once referenced the ammunition in a postcard home to her mother: "Keep 'em coming honey, we're going through them like a hot knife through butter."
Susan said she still has letters and postcards her father sent home during the war. "I have beautiful postcards and letters, and he always signed them with 'my enduring love,'" she said.
The medals
Browning was awarded nine medals:
- Bronze Star Medal
- Good Conduct Medal
- American Defense Service Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with Stars
- World War II Victory Medal
- Combat Infantryman Badge, First Award
- Honorable Service Lapel Button, WWII
- Sharpshooter Badge with Rifle Bar
Susan explains each medal's significance.Â
Two of Milford's great-great-grandchildren prepare to pose with his medals.
Thompson said the Bronze Star is awarded for heroic distinction in action. Susan Browning said the family did not previously have physical copies of most of the medals, including the Bronze Star. "I wanted to know what did he do, where was he at. I hope to find that answer through additional research," she said.
She said many of her father's official service records were lost in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, but that she has continued digging. "My father's records were a victim to the 1973 fire and archives, but I've been doing a lot of research online, and they said even if the files were destroyed, we can still piece together," she said. "If it means going to St. Louis and actually reviewing the files that they have, I'll do that, because I want to know. I want to know."
Susan Browning said her family connected with Thompson's office after being referred by state Rep. Stephanie Borowicz's office. She credited Thompson staffer Linda Coons with helping secure the medals using Browning's honorable discharge paperwork. "His office was so totally supportive. Linda Coons in particular is who I worked mostly with, and just super helpful and supportive," she said.
Reflecting on her father's generation, Susan Browning said: "As GT said, the greatest generation saved this world. We would look so different today — we would not enjoy the freedoms that we do in this country. 250 years strong. Let's make it another 250 and come out even better. Let's put our divisiveness behind and build and restore our country to what that generation fought for again."
Family in attendance
Milford's family and local officials gather to honor his service and memory.
Family members introduced at the ceremony included great-granddaughter Ashley Dierolf, great-great-granddaughter Olivia Dierolf, great-great-grandson Lucas Dierolf, granddaughter-by-marriage Denise Dierolf, Susan Browning's husband Frank Stropecker, grandsons Jared Browning and Matt Rowdy — both police officers — a retired 20-year U.S. Navy veteran, niece and nephew Carol and Joe Zabalski, great-grandson and police officer Zachary Dierolf, and great-great-granddaughter Eleanor "Ellie" Dierolf.
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