Sherwood H. Hallman

The Walter T. Caffrey American Legion Post 602 erected a memorial monument dedicated to Sergeant Hallman at the Spring City Borough Hall on November 18, 1967.

The resulting gap in the German line enabled the GIs to advance another 2,000 yards, to a point from which they launched a successful attack the following day on Fort Keranroux, one of the keys to the defense of Brest. Hallman came through the attack unscathed. The following day, Sept. 14, he was shot by a sniper and fell mortally wounded. He was awarded a second Purple Heart, as well as the Medal of Honor for his actions on September 13. The Medal of Honor was presented to his wife and 2-year-old son, Sherwood Hallman II, during a ceremony at Fairmount Park Military Police headquarters in Philadelphia on May 31, 1945. The presentation to the family was made by Brigadier General Malcolm F. Lindsey, Commanding General Indiantown Gap Military Cemetery.

Hallman joined the army from his birthplace of Spring City, Pennsylvania, in January 1943, and by September 13, 1944, was serving as a staff sergeant in the 175th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. On that day, in Brest, France, he single-handedly attacked and captured a German position, prompting the surrender of other German forces in the area. He was killed in action the next day and, on April 17, 1945, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

On January 8, 1943, Hallman entered the service. He received his training at Fort McClellan, Alabama, at their Infantry Replacement Training Center. He spent five months training stateside. When he arrived in England, as Private First Class Hallman; he was assigned to Company F, a rifle company in the 2nd Battalion of the 175th Infantry Regiment, which was part of the 29th Division. A rifle company was a bad place in which to spend the war. Once it reached the front line it never left. The men were in constant danger. Hallman spent the next year in England training rigorously for the Normandy invasion. On D-day his regiment spent the day in LSTs bobbing up and down in the Atlantic just off Omaha Beach. They landed there on June 6, 1944. On the next day his company was hit by British dive bombers who thought they were Germans. The attack left five men dead and 19 wounded, including Hallman. He was sent to an English hospital for treatment and just 17 days later returned to his company to resume the fighting in France.

One afternoon in 1941 when Hallman stopped by the A. C. Roberts Co. plant in Kimberton to replenish his meat supply, he met Virginia Dieter working in the office. They were married January 4, 1942, and their son, Sherwood Jr., was born October 25. Hallman's draft notice arrived two weeks after his son's birth.

Sherwood attended Spring City High School, Class of 1931, where he played football. Sherwood was a member of the Zion Lutheran Church just outside Spring City. Sherwood left school in his 2nd year of High School, to help support his family during the great depression. He loved animals, especially horses. He obtained a job at the Spring City Race Track just outside town on Wall St, which hosted harness races. Sherwood worked grooming horses for Harvey Stauffer. Harvey also owned Stauffer's Market on Main St, which later moved around the corner on Bridge St. He offered Sherwood a job at his market after the race season ended, and taught him the butcher trade. After Harvey died his children ran the business, but had to downsize, and laid Sherwood off. In 1939 Sherwood then began his own business – Sherry's Modern Market – a grocery store on wheels. He bought a step truck, and had it customized. Sherry's market offered door-to-door sales of groceries, produce, poultry, meat and dairy products. The Store at Your Door" shopping option.

Sherwood Henry Hallman (October 29, 1913 – September 14, 1944) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II.

Hallman was born on October 29, 1913, in Spring City, Pennsylvania, to Harry and Emma Hallman. He had two brothers, Lester and Raymond, and two sisters, Elaine and Marian. His father Harry was a postal worker.