Alexander “Sandy” Nininger Jr. was a native of Gainesville, Ga. He was a faithful young man and was inspired by his ancestors’ military service. His grandfather had fought with the 27th U.S. Infantry during the Indian Wars.
In summers, he frequently visited his mother’s old family home in Central Valley, New York, near the United States Military Academy at West Point. One day, when he was a youngster, a group of cadets marched past his house, and according to his father, “Then and there his mind was made up to go to West Point.”
Though his family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Fl., when he was a teenager, he was steadfast in his determination to attend West Point.
He did not fit the typical warrior profile in high school, being of slight build and known as a kind and gentle spirit interested in the arts, literature, and classical music. But he also enjoyed baseball, tennis, and football.
Sandy received an appointment to enter the Academy in July 1937. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion “L” Company, was immersed in his studies, ran with the track team, participated in the debate society, and was chairman of the lecture committee. He would graduate near the top of his class in May 1941.
On leave before his first deployment, Sandy was asked by a hometown friend if he could ever hate someone enough to kill them. He replied, “I would not kill out of hate, but I would kill out of love for my country.” It was his concern for others above himself that would soon manifest in heroic actions.
From West Point, he was commissioned as an Infantry officer and requested to serve in the Philippines with the 57th Infantry Regiment of the Philippine Scouts, commanding Filipino enlisted soldiers. Shortly after his arrival there, the Japanese commenced their December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, bringing the U.S. into World War II.
A month before the attack, Japan’s Chief of the Army General Staff predicted his forces could take the Philippines in less than two months, inducing the U.S. and other nations with Pacific interests to withdraw. Immediately after Pearl Harbor, the Japs launched assaults on Thailand, Singapore, Malaya, and Hong Kong, and the American military installations on Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippines.
Landing on the beaches of the Philippines two days after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese met with fierce resistance from Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s forces, but eventually retreat was the only option given the defeat of MacArthur’s Far East Air Force and the departure from Manila of our Navy’s Asiatic Fleet Task Force 5.
On December 23, realizing hope of defending the islands was diminishing, MacArthur executed War Plan Orange-3, moving all forces on Luzon 150 miles to the Bataan Peninsula in a last-ditch effort to hold out for reinforcements.
Fighting their way to Bataan and forming a defensive line once there, during intense fighting, now-1LT Nininger, as platoon leader in A Company, 1st Battalion, 57th Infantry Regiment (PS), would earn both a Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
On January 12, after repeated attacks by enemy snipers taking out American and Filipino soldiers, Nininger formed and led one of several sniper hunting squads.
Regimental commander COL George Clarke noted that the squads “enabled them to repulse Jap attacks night after night.” He recalled last seeing Nininger “loaded down with grenades and with a Garand rifle slung over his shoulder.”
Moving into the Japanese line, Niniger shot one sniper in a tree, which drew heavy enemy fire on him. In response, he moved closer to the line. He threw grenades into the enemy entrenchments, killing at least 20 enemy combatants, according to reports from Company K. Then came a Japanese artillery barrage. Still, despite casualties around him, Nininger continued his advance against the enemy line.
Having used all his ammunition and grenades, he resorted to hand-to-hand combat with his bayonet. Though wounded three times, he continued to advance. One officer reported last seeing three Japanese soldiers rushing Nininger, and after battling with them, he fell to the ground and expired.
COL Clarke noted that Nininger’s “action acted like a tonic on the men around him, and added greatly to the success of our counter attack.” Based on Sandy’s actions that day, Clarke personally recommended him for the Medal of Honor, and that Medal was awarded posthumously by Franklin Roosevelt a month after Sandy’s death.
Sandy Nininger was the first Medal of Honor recipient of World War II.
His MoH citation notes: “Enemy snipers in trees and foxholes had stopped a counterattack to regain part of the position. In the hand-to-hand fighting which followed, 2d Lt. Nininger repeatedly forced his way to and into the hostile position. Though exposed to heavy enemy fire, he continued to attack with rifle and hand grenades and succeeded in destroying several enemy groups in foxholes, and enemy snipers. Although wounded three times, he continued his attacks until he was killed after pushing alone far within the enemy position. When his body was found after recapture of the position, one enemy officer and two enemy soldiers lay dead around him.”
Three months later, despite all their valiant efforts, our forces on Bataan surrendered on April 9, 1942. That was followed by the infamous Bataan Death March and, for those who survived that ordeal, the degradation and torture of Japanese prison camps.
Upon his release from a Jap prison camp after the war’s conclusion, Nininger’s former company commander wrote to his parents: “Your son’s character was faultless. Never have I met anyone who could bear the hardships of war more cheerfully. Never have I encountered one whose attention to detail was greater, or whose performance of tasks assigned was better. … He wanted to be regarded above all other considerations, as a man fulfilling West Point’s guiding motto; Duty, Honor, Country.”
And indeed, he did.
1LT Sandy Nininger: Your example of valor — a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty and in disregard for the peril to your own life — is eternal.
"Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends." (John 15:13)
Live your life worthy of his sacrifice.
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate -- 1776
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