Precious Medals Journey for Coy W. Goins

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Coy W Goins was a coal miner in WV. The day after the bombing at Pearl Harbor he voluntarily enlisted in the Army and within a month was off for training. He had several family members that also immediately volunteered. One of 16 children, he left behind his family to join the battle to protect our country.

Coy served in the 5th Sqadron of the 4th Cavalry Regiment. Their moto was LOYALTY AND COURAGE and they were known for being the first in and the last out. His squadron did recon before the D-Day invasion. They secured and cleared Utah beach and provided coverage for the Airborne division that dropped soldiers behind enemy lines to cut off communication channels. They then flanked the enemy troops as our Allied forces stormed the beaches.

Normandy Invasion, also called Operation Overlord or D-Day, during World War II when the allied invasion of western Europe, which was launched on June 6, 1944 (the most celebrated D-Day of the war), with the simultaneous landing of US, British and Canadian forces on five separate beachheads in Normandy, France. This was one of the sites Coy Goins sustained injuries that earned him a Purple Heart. The battle led to the liberation of France and started to drive to turn the tide of the entire war. At least 10,000 soldiers were injured in this battle and over 4,400 casualties. Soldiers that hit the beach that day described hearing bullets on the ramps hitting like hail. They knew that when the ramps went down, the bullets would come in and kill some of them... maybe all of them. But they pressed on. Coy was recorded as being a general mechanic and sustained injuries while operating a tank. His unit received both the a distinguished unit medal and the French Government awarded them with the French Croix De Guerre Medal, an honor reserved for the bravery of their efforts in the liberation of France.

With barely a moments breath between battles, Coy’s Squardon continued on participating in nearly every pivotal battle in Europe. Following D-Day, Allied forces advanced rapidly across France and Belgium. Hitlers army aimed to halt them with a surprise attack. Coy’s regimen was in Ardennes when enemy forces tried to break through Allied lines.

The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Counteroffensive, was a major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II which took place from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945. Some 500,000 Americans, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, with approximately 19,000 soldiers killed in action, 47,500 wounded and 23,000-plus missing. By dates of hospital records it appears that Coy Goins sustained serious injuries in this battle as well but was one of the very fortunate to live. He was noted to have had a hand injury an concussion while operating a tank.

Coy’s squadron encountered their next major battle only 2 weeks later as they joined with Canadian forces for the Battle of Rhineland on Feb 8, 1945. The Battle of the Rhineland forced back the Germans to the Rhine R. It involved attacking over ground and through the Hochwald forest against stubborn opposition as the Germans defended German soil. Throughout the month poor weather robbed the Allies of much of their accustomed tactical air support, while mud frequently immobilized their tanks. Nevertheless, the W bank of the Rhine was cleared as far S as Düsseldorf in some of the bitterest fighting of WWII. Allied casualties totaled nearly 23,000. The Germans lost approximately 90,000 men, of whom some 52, 000 were taken prisoner. By 23 Mar 1945 the Allies were on the Rhine from Strasbourg, France, to Nijmegen, Netherlands.

Immediately after that battle, Coy’s squadron engaged in The Central Europe Campaign(22 March-2 May 1945) which was the final campaign of the Western Front of WWII in Europe, involving an Allied invasion of Germany along a broad front. The Allied forces penetrated deep into the heart of the Reich as German resistance faltered, and they faced the remnants of once-strong German armies and weak volksstrum militiamen. The campaign lasted until 2 May 1945, when the Americans linked up with Soviet troops along the Elbe at Torgau, dividing Germany in two.

Coy's military career was filled with some of the most difficult battles fought and the true turning points in the war

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