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Contact Info
Home Town Hibbing, Minnesota
Last Address Duluth, Minnesota
Date of Passing Dec 30, 2011
Location of Interment Forest Hill Cemetery - Duluth, Minnesota
World War II Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. One of nine children born to Italian immigrants, he enlisted in the US Army at Fort Snelling, Minnesota on February 2, 1944. Assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 398th Infantry Regiment, 100th Infantry Division, his company was pinned downed by heavy artillery, mortar, and machinegun fire in the vicinity of Untergriesheim, Germany on April 7, 1945. Colalillo used a supporting tank to run forward, inspiring his comrades to do the same. His machine pistol was destroyed by shrapnel so he climbed a friendly tank and manned the exposed machinegun on the turret, destroying two enemy machineguns and killing, wounding or scattering four enemy positions. When his machinegun jammed, he used a submachine gun from the tank crew and continued to attack on foot. "By his intrepidity and inspiring courage (he) gave tremendous impetus to his company's attack, killed or wounded 25 of the enemy in bitter fighting, and assisted a wounded soldier in reaching the American lines at great risk of his own life." He received his medal from President Harry Truman on December 18, 1945. After the war, he worked as a coal dump laborer and longshoreman, retiring in 1987. At his death he was Minnesota's last living CMOH recipient.
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Rhineland Campaign (1944-45)
From Month/Year
September / 1944
To Month/Year
March / 1945
Description (Rhineland Campaign 15 September 1944 to 21 March 1945) Attempting to outflank the Siegfried Line, the Allies tried an airborne attack on Holland on 17 September 1944. But the operation failed, and the enemy was able to strengthen his defensive line from Holland to Switzerland. Little progress was made on the ground, but the aerial attacks on strategic targets continued. Then, having regained the initiative after defeating a German offensive in the Ardennes in December 1944, the Allies drove through to the Rhine, establishing a bridgehead across the river at Remagen.
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