Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

1st Lieutenant (Lieutenant)

Unit:

Company F, 370th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Infantry Division, U.S. Army

Aurelius A. Miles, First Lieutenant, Infantry, U.S. Army, for gallantry in action on February 1945, near Strettoia, province of Lucca in Italy. The enemy launched a counter-attack against Lieutenant Miles' Company as it moved into a new position on a hill under cover of darkness. The pressure of the hostile attack forced his company to withdraw and brought much confusion to 5 other companies which then occupied the hill. Lieutenant Miles, realizing the situation, gathered all the men he could see and led them under withering enemy fire and over heavily mined terrain to defensive positions along the base of the hill. All night he personally checked the positions and re-arranged the lines. During the next day, the constantly exposed himself in keeping control of his sector of the hill. He left the safety of his fox hole during an artillery barrage to personally supervise the evacuation of two casualties and maintained his command post in a fox-hole, 20 yards from the front line until he was wounded.