On May 23 in 1984, World War II veteran Ernest Herbert Dervishian is laid to rest on the 40th anniversary of his earning the Medal of Honor for actions near Cisterna, Italy. Dervishian had passed away three days prior on the 20th.
While leading a forward patrol, Dervishian and his four man team advanced upon a German-held railroad embankment. Over the next 30 minutes his actions would result in the capture of three machine gun nests, and more than forty Germans prisoner.
At one point, as the team was pinned down by machine gun fire less than fifteen yards away, Dervishian played dead until the crew paused to reload. “I was shaking so hard I thought it would give me away” he later recalled in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “Bullets sprayed alongside my arm so close that they made my sleeve flutter.” Seizing the opportunity, he rushed the position and secured it with his rifle and grenades.
When two more dugouts opened fire, Dervishian ordered his men to withdraw while he remained behind. Using the machine gun he had just captured with one hand and an enemy submachine gun found nearby in the other, he proceeded to provide an effective covering fire that resulted in both dugouts surrendering. Before a third emplacement could begin firing, Dervishian charged directly towards it, catching the crew off guard and netting a final six more prisoners.
The Virginia native returned home on February 1, 1945 to a crowd of over 30,000 on what was dubbed “Dervishian Day.” Although he spoke often of his service he made it a point to downplay his earning the #MOH and emphasized that “any man who tells you he’s not scared when fighting is either a fool or a liar.”
Dervishian was just 67 at the time of his death. He is buried in the outlying Richmond suburb of Tuckahoe at Westhampton Memorial Park. I visited in late 2018 shortly after his wife Anne’s inscription was added to their bronze placard, following her death in 2017.
What many may not know is there is also a cenotaph for Dervishian at his parent’s plot in nearby Riverview Cemetery (3rd photo). In fact, the cemetery’s crew was unaware of it and it took me a considerable amount of time to locate it.
