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Frank Momot of Farmington served in the Army with C. Co 303
Eng. Bn 78 Div.
He achieved the rank of T/4 while serving in the European
Theatre. He was awarded the Bronze Star and
Cluster, three battle stars, and the following ribbons:
Army of Occupation, American Campaign, European Africa/Middle Eastern
Campaign and the Army Citation.
Momot's division, the 17th Infantry was the first infantry
division to get all its infantry across the Rhine River.
The following stories were related in a book submitted by
Momot:
"Pfc. John J. Coyle, the Engineer medic, was up on the
road leading to the Kraut box so he could be on hand in case one of this Engineers were
wounded. But during one of the many barrages a
doughboy was hit and Coyle went to give him aid. Doc
was squatting on the ground just outside the doughboy's foxhole when the next barrage came
in and a close shell killed the doughboy and severely wounded Doc in the leg.
"When the Engineers in the troop shelter heard of this,
they all wanted to go to their medic's aid. Lt.
Siegele and T/4 Frank Momot tried to get to him but a Kraut machine gun was firing through
a break in the hedge row, and their artillery was trying to knock out one of our tanks so
the men were forced to turn back. Later, when
the firing quieted down, the whole engineer group took a stretcher mounted on skiis up to
the foxhole and evacuated Coyle."
Still another section of the book reports on the crossing of
the Sieg River:
"By dawn, the squad had finished removing the last mine,
and the rest of the platoon arrived to put in the bridge.
"The men assembled the sections of the bridge behind
some houses, and by daylight they were all ready to set it up. There was no infantry around to give support, it
was needed, so Lieutenant Siegele deployed the squads in the houses to cover him while he
swam across. T/4 Frank Momot and Pvt. Russel
Gaudet volunteered to help. The three doffed
their heavy equipment, and walked toward the river bank.
They were half-way across the open field which bordered the river, when the
Krauts opened up with machine-gun and rifle fire. Pvt.
Gaudet was hit once in the neck, and when he turned to seek cover, he was hit again in the
back.
