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Contact Info
Home Town Akron, OH
Last Address Stroud Township, PA
Date of Passing May 25, 2006
Location of Interment Holy Rosary Cemetery - Duryea, Pennsylvania
For extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with the 25th Infanty Division on 8 March 1945, in the Philippine Islands. Serving as a litter bearer section leader, Technician Fifth Grade Possinger led an eight man squad to rescue six infantrymen who had been ambushed and wounded along a trail on a high ridge. After reaching the men, he was seriously wounded with a bullet in the chest. He immediately dressed his injury and then administered first aid to the other soldiers for 30 minutes while under heavy machine gun fire. He then led his men and the wounded soldiers down a steep ridge to safety. Technician Fifth Grade Possinger's intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, the 25th Infantry Division, and the United States Army. HQ, U.S. Forces-Pacific, GO 54 (1945)
Harvey Possinger was one of the most highly decorated veterans of World War II. He received every medal for valor in combat except for the Medal of Honor. He received 26 medals throughout his distinguished career. The only man to receive more (27) was Audie Murphy.
Drafted in April 1942, he left the Continental United States in May. Possinger was assigned to B Company, 35th Infantry Regiment, of the 25th Infantry Division.
The 25th Infantry was called into Guadalcanal to relieve the 1st Marine Division in November. Possinger, along with the rest of his unit, arrived at Guadalcanal on 17 December1942. After weeks of heavy fighting, the island was secure.
Possinger also participated in the Vella Lavella and Northern Solomons campaigns. Possinger was wounded three times on Vella Lavalla and was awarded the Bronze Star for his heroic actions throughout the campaign in the Northern Solomons.
During the battle for Luzon in the Philippines, Possinger was hit in the left arm and on March 8, 1945 he was wounded for the fifth and final time; as he took a bullet to the chest at Belete Pass.
In civilian life, he worked for Pocono Textile Co., later the Oxford Textile Co. in Oxford, N.J. He later worked as a night ranger for Outdoor World in Scotrun. He helped organize Little League baseball in Monroe County and belonged to the VFW and the American Legion.
Possinger's wife, Marie Hokien Possinger, died in 1991.
Harvey died at Beverly Health Care Center in Scranton following a long period of frail health.
WWII - Asiatic-Pacific Theater
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
September / 1945
Description The plan of the Pacific subseries was determined by the geography, strategy, and the military organization of a theater largely oceanic. Two independent, coordinate commands, one in the Southwest Pacific under General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and the other in the Central, South, and North Pacific (Pacific Ocean Areas) under Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, were created early in the war. Except in the South and Southwest Pacific, each conducted its own operations with its own ground, air, and naval forces in widely separated areas. These operations required at first only a relatively small number of troops whose efforts often yielded strategic gains which cannot be measured by the size of the forces involved. Indeed, the nature of the objectivesùsmall islands, coral atolls, and jungle-bound harbors and airstrips, made the employment of large ground forces impossible and highlighted the importance of air and naval operations. Thus, until 1945, the war in the Pacific progressed by a double series of amphibious operations each of which fitted into a strategic pattern developed in Washington.
21 Named Campaigns were recognized in the Asiatic Pacific Theater with Battle Streamers and Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medals.
