01/30/2026
On this day, 82 years ago, January 30, 1944, 33-year-old Private First Class Lloyd C. Hawks of the United States Army was a medical aidman with the Medical Detachment, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, near Carano in the Anzio beachhead in Italy.
That afternoon, around 3 p.m., German forces launched a strong counterattack and drove in the American front-line positions, forcing infantrymen to pull back and leaving two badly wounded soldiers stranded in an open, shell-torn field only about 30 yards from the enemy.
The two men lay in full view of German positions with no cover, swept by machine gun, rifle, and mortar fire, and repeated attempts by others to reach them had already failed under the intense fire.
Hawks left his covered position, stepped into the open, and ran approximately 50 yards across the fire-swept ground toward the wounded men, immediately drawing concentrated fire from enemy machine guns and rifles.
About 30 yards from the Germans, a burst of machine gun fire struck him, wounding him in the hip and knocking him to the ground.
He crawled into a shallow ditch, then rose again and started forward once more toward the nearest wounded man.
A second burst hit him in the chest, tearing away his aid kit and knocking him down again, but he got back up and continued to stumble and crawl across the exposed ground, closing the last few yards under direct fire.
Reaching the first casualty, he rolled the man into the ditch and began giving first aid, working over him while German bullets struck the ground all around their shallow cover.
After treating the soldier’s wounds, Hawks dragged and pushed him along the ditch away from the enemy, moving him far enough back so that others could reach and evacuate him from a less exposed position.
Without stopping to have his own wounds treated, Hawks turned back toward the second wounded man, who still lay in the open field closer to the Germans.
He left the ditch and again crossed open ground under heavy enemy fire to reach the second casualty, receiving another wound in the process but continuing on until he reached the man.
Once there, he administered first aid under the same intense fire, then began dragging this second wounded soldier toward the ditch line to get him out of the most exposed area.
Only after he had brought both men to relative safety and ensured that other medical personnel could evacuate them did Hawks allow himself to be helped back and evacuated; in all, he had been exposed in the open for many minutes within 30 yards of the enemy and had suffered multiple serious wounds.
For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty near Carano, Italy, on January 30, 1944, Private First Class Lloyd Cortez Hawks, Medical Detachment, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Lloyd Cortez Hawks survived his wounds, remained in the Army and rose to the rank of Sergeant First Class after the war. On October 26, 1953, he died at age 42 after returning to civilian life, and he was buried in Becker Cemetery in Becker, Minnesota.
