Walter Cline Wetzel was born on June 7, 1919, in Huntington, Cabell County, West Virginia. He was the son of Josephine E "Josie" Robey Wetzel. He was married to Dorothy Elizabeth Gaffke Wetzel. He enlisted in the U.S. Army from Roseville, Michigan, in July 1941. He served as a Private First Class with the 13th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division, during World War II.

On April 3, 1945, during fighting at Birken, Germany, German troops threw grenades toward Wetzel’s position. In an act of extraordinary self-sacrifice, he covered the explosives with his body, shielding his fellow soldiers from the blasts and sacrificing his own life. For his heroism, Wetzel was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman on February 26, 1946. He was laid to rest at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, the Netherlands.

Medal of Honor Citation:
Pfc. Wetzel, an acting squad leader with the Antitank Company of the 13th Infantry, was guarding his platoon's command post in a house at Birken, Germany, during the early morning hours of 3 April 1945, when he detected strong enemy forces moving in to attack. He ran into the house, alerted the occupants and immediately began defending the post against heavy automatic weapons fire coming from the hostile troops. Under cover of darkness the Germans forced their way close to the building where they hurled grenades, 2 of which landed in the room where Pfc. Wetzel and the others had taken up firing positions. Shouting a warning to his fellow soldiers, Pfc. Wetzel threw himself on the grenades and, as they exploded, absorbed their entire blast, suffering wounds from which he died. The supreme gallantry of Pfc. Wetzel saved his comrades from death or serious injury and made it possible for them to continue the defense of the command post and break the power of a dangerous local counterthrust by the enemy. His unhesitating sacrifice of his life was in keeping with the U.S. Army's highest traditions of bravery and heroism.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, en.wikipedia.org