Orville Emil Bloch

Medal of Honor recipient who was turned down for an officer's commission because he was too short. Born in Big Falls, Wisconsin, to German immigrant parents, Orville Emil Bloch later grew up in Streeter, North Dakota, where almost everyone in town still spoke German. Although he grew to be only 5'4" tall, he starred on his high school basketball and football teams. In fact, other than having to endure nicknames like "Weiner," Bloch's height wasn't much of an issue until he tried to join the military as an officer. Even though he had a college degree, the Army, Navy, and Marines all denied him an officer's commission because he did not meet their minimum height requirements, so he enlisted in the Army as a Buck Private, and then, true to form, worked his way up to officer rank anyway. He was a 1st Lieutenant in Company E, 338th Infantry, 85th Infantry Division when he performed "above and beyond the call of duty." Bloch was leading his platoon on their march from Naples to the Po Valley and they were near the assaults on the city of Firenzuola, Italy, on September 22, 1944, when they met with heavy fire coming from five enemy machine gun nests located in three nearby buildings. He took three volunteers from his platoon and placed them behind a large rock, where they could cover Bloch as he made his way to each of the enemy locations. With bullets whizzing all around him, Bloch fired a carbine from the hip, threw hand grenades, and kicked down doors, single-handedly wounding six and forcing the remaining 13 frightened German soldiers to come out in surrender. After the war, he stayed in the Army and many expected Bloch to become a Brigadier General, but a physical examination revealed a serious heart ailment. He retired in 1970 as a full Colonel, and then got into the apple orchard business in Manson, Washington, but also spent time at his home in Seattle's North End. Attending Bloch's funeral here at Evergreen-Washelli were six other Medal of Honor awardees, whom Bloch had met through his involvement in the Medal of Honor Society. Bloch's own MOH was placed around his neck for the service, but no mention was made of it, his Italian Military Cross of Valor, his Free Polish Silver Cross, nor any of his other medals. Bloch probably would have appreciated that. Despite earning our nation's highest military decoration, "The Little Giant" remained a humble man. It was said that he could afford a Cadillac, but drove a Ford pickup with 300,000 miles on it. He was also the type to take a down-and-out itinerant into his Manson home, delivered his apples to financially strapped schools, and never said an unkind word about anyone "unless it was the Mariners, after they'd blown a ninth-inning lead." Well, that's surely something we can all relate to.