Germans Captured Him — He Laughed, Then Took Down 21 of Them in 45 Seconds
SURROUNDED BY 90 GERMAN SOLDIERS, HE LAUGHED — THEN TURNED THE BATTLE IN LESS THAN A MINUTE
Holtzheim, Belgium — January 1945
At 2:47 p.m. on January 29, 1945, First Sergeant Leonard A. Funk Jr. stepped around the corner of a farmhouse in the snow-covered Belgian village of Holtzheim and found himself staring into the barrels of nearly 90 German rifles.
Only minutes earlier, most of those men had been prisoners of war.
Now they were armed, organized, and preparing to attack American paratroopers from the rear.
Funk was outnumbered nearly 90 to one. His four soldiers were kneeling in the snow, disarmed. A German officer pressed an MP-40 submachine gun into Funk’s stomach and shouted orders in German.
Instead of surrendering, Funk began to laugh.
Within 45 seconds, 21 German soldiers lay dead, dozens more were wounded, and the rest surrendered. Funk survived — and earned the Medal of Honor for one of the most extraordinary acts of individual combat leadership in World War II.
A Paratrooper Forged by Hard Years
Leonard Alfred Funk Jr. was born on August 27, 1916, in Braddock Township, Pennsylvania, a steel town along the Monongahela River east of Pittsburgh. The Great Depression shaped his early life, forcing responsibility on him at a young age as he helped care for his family.
When the United States expanded the draft in 1941, Funk was 24 years old, standing just 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing about 140 pounds. Army doctors might have seen a clerk. Instead, Funk volunteered for the paratroopers — one of the most demanding and dangerous assignments in the U.S. Army.
Airborne training washed out nearly half of its volunteers. Funk endured it all and earned his jump wings, joining Company C, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division.
By D-Day, he was already a squad leader.
From Normandy to the Netherlands
Funk’s combat record before Holtzheim was already remarkable.
On June 6, 1944, he jumped into Normandy amid heavy anti-aircraft fire. Scattered miles from his drop zone and suffering from a badly injured ankle, Funk assembled a group of 18 lost paratroopers from different units. For 10 days, he led them through 40 miles of German-occupied territory, traveling by night and hiding by day.
Every man survived.
For that action, Funk received the Silver Star.
Three months later, during Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands, Funk led a three-man patrol against a heavily fortified German anti-aircraft position that was firing on incoming Allied gliders. Outnumbered nearly seven to one, Funk assaulted the position, neutralized three 20-millimeter flak guns, and killed or captured the entire enemy crew.
The Distinguished Service Cross followed.
War Without Mercy
By December 1944, the war had entered its most brutal phase. The German Ardennes Offensive — the Battle of the Bulge — erupted in snow and subzero temperatures. Entire American units were overrun.
Then came Malmedy.
On December 17, 1944, SS troops murdered 84 unarmed American prisoners in a Belgian field. News of the massacre spread quickly through U.S. lines.
For Funk, it was a turning point.
According to those who served with him, he made a quiet but firm decision: he would never surrender to German forces.
That resolve would soon be tested.
The Village of Holtzheim
In late January 1945, Company C was ordered to capture Holtzheim. The unit was understrength. Its executive officer had been killed. Funk, now acting executive officer, faced a shortage of infantry.
He solved it bluntly.
Funk gathered clerks, cooks, and supply personnel — men who normally never fought — and told them they were infantry now. He led the makeshift platoon on a 15-mile march through deep snow and artillery fire, then personally directed the assault into the village.
House by house, they cleared German resistance.
By early afternoon, 80 German soldiers had surrendered. Funk ordered them held in a farmhouse yard under guard by four Americans — all the manpower he could spare — and returned to continue clearing the village.
That decision nearly cost the company everything.
The Moment That Changed Everything
While Funk was gone, a German patrol infiltrated the area, overwhelmed the guards, freed the prisoners, and rearmed them. Ninety German soldiers regrouped, preparing to strike Company C from behind.
When Funk returned to check on the prisoners, he walked directly into the ambush.
The German officer confronting him demanded surrender. Funk didn’t understand the words — but he understood the intent.
Outnumbered, surrounded, and facing almost certain death, Funk reacted in a way no one expected.
He laughed.
Witnesses later said the laughter was uncontrollable. The German officer screamed louder. Funk laughed harder. Some German soldiers began to laugh as well. Confusion spread through the ranks.
As the officer watched, assuming Funk was complying, Funk slowly reached for his Thompson submachine gun.
Then, in one fluid motion, he swung it down and opened fire.
Forty-Five Seconds of Chaos
At close range, the .45-caliber Thompson was devastating.
Funk killed the German officer instantly, then pivoted and fired into the clustered enemy soldiers. He reloaded under fire, shouting to his men to seize dropped weapons. The once-organized German force collapsed into chaos.
In less than a minute, 21 Germans were dead and 24 wounded.
The rest surrendered.
Funk survived without injury.
Recognition and a Quiet Life
The action at Holtzheim required no embellishment. The facts alone were overwhelming.
On September 5, 1945, President Harry S. Truman placed the Medal of Honor around Leonard Funk’s neck at the White House.
“I’d rather have this medal than be President of the United States,” Truman reportedly told him.
By the end of the war, Funk had earned the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star, three Purple Hearts, and numerous foreign decorations from France, Belgium, and the Netherlands — making him the most decorated paratrooper of World War II.
Then he went home.
Funk never sought fame. He returned to Pennsylvania, worked for the Veterans Administration for 27 years, helped other veterans navigate bureaucracy, and raised a family. He rarely spoke about the war.
When asked about Holtzheim, he reportedly said only, “I did what I had to do.”
Leonard Funk died of cancer on November 20, 1992. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
A Lesson in Courage
Funk’s story is not about size, strength, or bravado. It is about clarity under pressure — the ability to think and act when every rational calculation says survival is impossible.
At Holtzheim, when surrender seemed inevitable, Leonard Funk chose action.
He laughed.
And in doing so, he changed the outcome of the battle — and secured his place in history.
