By Katie Lange
USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- The Allies faced fierce resistance as they worked to free France during World War II. During that push, Army Staff Sgt. Alvin P. Carey went on a one-man grenade-throwing spree to take out a German stronghold. He didn’t survive the ordeal, but his efforts helped his unit seize the day. For his sacrifice, he earned the Medal of Honor.
Carey was born on Aug. 16, 1916, in the small town of Lycippus in western Pennsylvania. His father, Philip, died in 1919, so Carey grew up with his sister, Pearl, in nearby Laughlintown.
According to the newspaper the Latrobe (Pennsylvania) Bulletin, Carey enjoyed hunting and fishing, and he played baseball and football in school. He graduated from Ligonier Valley High School in 1935 and worked as a farmer and construction worker until Jan. 24, 1941, when he enlisted in the Army.
Over the next three years, Carey trained for the invasion of France. About halfway through that training, he married his sweetheart, Anna Mae Ankney.
Carey landed in France on June 7, 1944 — the day after the initial invasion of Normandy — with the 38th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division. He was injured a month into his deployment and received the Purple Heart, but he was soon sent back to the front.
By August, the 2nd Infantry Division had been called upon to capture the French port town of Brest from the Germans. The town was key to an Allied plan to get supplies to the invading forces coming onto the continent from Normandy. By Aug. 7, the Allies had
