United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military’s highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II shortly before the Battle of the Bulge.
Neppel joined the Army from Glidden, Iowa, in March 1943. By 14 December 1944, he was serving as a sergeant in Company M, 329th Infantry Regiment, 83rd Infantry Division. During a German counterattack on that day, at Birgel, Germany, one of his legs was severed by enemy fire. He continued to operate his machine gun until the German force withdrew. Neppel survived his wounds, although his remaining leg was badly damaged and had to be amputated.
During his recovery and rehabilitation at McCloskey General Hospital in Temple, Texas, Neppel was fitted with prostheses and was promoted from sergeant to technical sergeant. He married his fiancee Jean Moore, and was discharged from the Army in 1946.
Neppel returned to work at his 240-acre Iowa farm. He earned a bachelors degree and attended graduate school, and worked for the Veterans Administration for 22 years. He served for eight years on the Iowa Governor’s Committee for the Employment of the Handicapped, and in 1969 he was a finalist for the President’s award for Handicapped Person of the Year.
Neppel died on 27 January 1987 at age 63 in Lidderdale, Iowa.
Link to Wikipedia biography