Ken Harbaugh tells the stories of service members who have distinguished themselves through an act of valor. These stories feature recipients from the Civil War to present day, including a few who were originally overlooked for the medal.
2ndLt Raymond Zussman: Taking Positions and Prisoners
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2ndLt Zussman was one of the three Jewish Americans to receive a Medal of Honor in World War II. With only one working tank, Zussman scouted enemy positions alone to direct his tank’s fire, capturing the French town of Noroy-Le-Borg and taking dozens of prisoners.
Welcome to the Medal of Honor podcast, brought to you in partnership with the National Medal of Honor Museum. I’m Ken Harbaugh. In each episode, we’ll learn about a different service member who has distinguished him or herself through an act of valor.
Second Lieutenant Raymond Zussman was born on July 23rd, 1917, in Hamtramck, Michigan. The youngest of eight children to immigrants from Russia and Lithuania, Raymond sang at his synagogue and played basketball and ran track in high school. His eldest brother, Abraham, was a soldier in the US Army and fought in World War I.
Zussman graduated from Central High School in Detroit and worked as a union representative for Teamsters Local 337 while taking night classes at Wayne State University.
In September 1941, when he was 24, Zussman enlisted in the US Army, serving as a hand-to-hand combat instructor while attending the Armor Officers School at Fort Knox. He served as a tank instructor before commissioning as a Second Lieutenant in January 1943.
In June 1943, Zussman took part in the Allied invasion of North Africa, serving as a tank unit commander. In early 1944, he fought in the Italian Campaign, as the Allies tried to dislodge German forces from Italy. During the Battle of Monte Cassino, a four-month fight to break through the Axis’s Winter Line, Zussman was wounded. His command offered him a position back in the Headquarters Company, but he refused, choosing to stay on the front lines. As the Allies pushed towards Germany, Zussman transferred to the 756th Heavy Tank Battalion, fighting in eastern France.
On September 12th, 1944, Zussman commanded two tanks supporting an infantry company assault on Noroy-Le-Borg, a small French town approximately 50 miles from the German border. When his command tank went down, Zussman got out on foot, reconnoitering enemy positions alone. He returned multiple times to direct tank fire and infantry towards the positions he had scouted. Even when exposed to enemy machine guns, Zussman stood by his tank to direct fire.
As the company advanced through the town, Zussman’s tank destroyed enemy fighting positions and caused dozens of German soldiers to surrender. On one outing, soldiers heard Zussman’s carbine firing before he returned with 30 prisoners. When Noroy-Le-Borg was finally seized, 18 enemies were killed and 92 taken prisoner.
On September 21st, 1944, Zussman was killed by a German mortar. Zussman was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on June 9th, 1945, for his actions at Noroy-Le-Borg. The Medal of Honor was presented to his father, Nathan, at the Armor Officers class graduation.
Zussman’s other awards included the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart. Zussman’s actions are honored by the Zussman Village, an urban warfare training center in Fort Knox, as well as by several parks with his name in the greater Detroit area. Zussman was one of the three Jewish-Americans to receive the Medal of Honor during World War II.
Speaking to the Armor Officers graduation, Zussman’s father said: “My son, 'Ray,' died just as he always lived, fighting for what he felt was right and just.”
The Medal of Honor Podcast is a production of Evergreen Podcasts.
Nathan Corson is our producer and engineer, León Pescador is our script writer, Declan Rohrs is our script editor and recording engineer, and I’m Ken Harbaugh.
We are proud to support the National Medal of Honor Museum. To learn more, and to support their mission, got to mohmuseum.org. Thanks for listening.
