Sgt. Slaughter was awarded a Bronze Star for heroic achievement against the enemy on 27 December 1944, while serving as a Radio Operator on a troop carrier returning from a resupply mission to Bastogne. His plane crashed as a result of enemy action. The pilot, his back broken, was pinned in the wreckage, which burst into flames. Despite his own injuries and the imminent danger of an explosion, and in the face of sporadic bursts of enemy ground fire nearby, Sgt Slaughter remained with the plane until he extricated the pilot and dragged him to safety before the fuel tanks exploded. Sgt. Slaughter entered military service from Ohio.