As with so many war stories, this one is hazy and sounds like it’s ready-made for a movie. Particulars are hard to pin down, since the only person who might corroborate them has been dead since 1955. This is the story of a U.S. soldier whose “super-salesman” silver tongue persuaded German soldiers to surrender to U.S. troops. And he didn’t just do this once. He did it twice: 150 in the first lot, 12 in the second.

Lawrence Malmed, a silk salesman who resided at 1313 Spruce St. Philadelphia, entered the Army as a private in May 1942, then was later commissioned as a second lieutenant. After shipping out of Fort Benning, Georgia, he arrived in Europe with the 35th Infantry Division.

In Orleans (France), August 1944, Malmed crossed behind the German lines and, for 23 hours, talked to a German colonel. He then came back to Allied lines with 150 German soldiers in tow.

On September 29, 1944, during the Forêt de Grémecey battle, Malmed, wounded and captured by Germans, again crossed back to Allied lines. He had talked five Germans into surrendering, and along the way picked up another seven German soldiers.

Malmed was eventually awarded the Silver Star and a Purple Heart. After he was decommissioned, Malmed was employed in Gimbel’s adjustment department. Malmed died in 1955 at the age of 40. He left behind a widow and two children.

Many of the dates are difficult to match up. For instance, Malmed received his Purple Heart for injuries sustained on July 17, 1944, yet his first foray over German lines happened barely a couple of weeks later. Also, one of the lines uttered by Malmed sounds suspiciously like something you would hear in a war movie, though most likely it was cooked up by the newspaper writer (“OK boys, give me a gun and I’ll kill your officer when he gets here.”) In any case, though, Lawrence Malmed was clearly a war hero. Malmed is interred at Roosevelt Memorial Park, Trevose, Pennsylvania.

Above, The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 16, 1944

The last we hear of Lawrence Malmed before his obituary is this, from Wisconsin State Journal, March 1, 1945: