Aug. 3, 1961 - Hercules Korgis, the Greek-born American Army hero who won military honors during World War I, died today in a Michigan Veterans Administration hospital. He was 72. As a sergeant, Mr. Korgis single-handedly captured 256 Germans at Chateau-Thierry in 1918. He and three other soldiers had been placed at an outpost where no attack was expected. The Germans surprised them, killed his three companions, and wounded him in the leg and neck. Mr. Korgis told his German interrogators he was an unwilling Greek draftee in the American Army and said that he knew of a "weak spot" in the American lines. He added that the Germans could do "immeasurable damage" there, and the Germans believed him. He led the whole company into a trap. The 256 German soldiers were surrounded, and their officer surrendered. For his combat exploits, Mr. Korgis was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, the Purple Heart and the French Medaille Militaire and Croix de Guerre with palm.
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