Stanley Mellish (25 October 1916 - 13 June 1944) was a US Army private of the US Army Rangers. He was a member of Captain John H. Miller's squad during the later stages of World War Two. He had a strong dislike for the Nazis due to their public persecution and slaughter of his fellow Jews.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Stanley Mellish was born on 25 October 1916 to Jewish parents in Yonkers, New York. He eventually joined the US Army in 1943, qualifying as an Army Ranger and assigned to C Company, 2nd Ranger Battalion as a machine gunner. He trained at Camp Forrest, Tennessee, which was where the rest of the battalion was trained as well. There, he became friends with PFC. Adrian Caparzo, who nicknamed him "Fish".
WWII[]
D-Day[]
Mellish was eventually sent to Europe, where they prepared to attack Normandy, France. He and the 2nd Rangers landed on Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944. His LCA received a burst of MG-42 fire, which forced him and the other survivors to go over the side. He eventually reached a small hill of shingle, along with Caparzo and PFC Reiben. He helped Medic Irwin Wade to the hill as well. After blowing through the shingle, he and a group of Rangers breached the sea wall after taking out a machine gun position, and a pillbox. Shortly at the battle's end, Mellish is handed a Hitler Youth knife by Caparzo. He jokes that it's a "Shabbat challah cutter", but then began sobbing from the stress of battle or possibly the fact he just killed underaged soldiers.
Searching for Ryan[]

Mellish at Ramelle on June 13, 1944.
Three days later, he was selected to be part of Captain John H. Miller's squad, who was tasked with rescuing a Private James Francis Ryan, who lost his brothers and received a ticket home. Mellish was seen to be very harsh towards Corporal Timothy E. Upham, an interpreter from the 29th Infantry assigned to Miller's squad. He once threatened Upham for simply greeting him.
While searching the town of Neuville, his best friend, Caparzo, was the first squad member killed after being fatally wounded by a German sniper, something that deeply impacted Mellish. Later on, he was seen taunting German P.O.W.'s, exclaiming to them that he was a Jewish soldier. He is then seen searching though some dog tags, with Privates Reiben and Jackson to see if Ryan would be in them, and started gambling about who would find him first, till Wade takes them all and pointed out the group of tired Paratroopers eyeing them as they insensitively handled the dog tags of their dead comrades.
After the squad finds Ryan, he insisted on staying to defend Ramelle, so they decided to assist Ryan in this effort. Mellish is chosen to serve as Corporal Fred Henderson's assistant gunner and set up a .30 caliber machine gun near some rubble. After setting up the defenses, took more of a liking to Upham, as he helped him with some .30 caliber ammo, and joked with him about the expression, "FUBAR".
Death[]
During the Battle of Ramelle, he and Henderson killed a few Germans with their gun, before moving to a building with a hole in the room to fire the machine gun. They eventually ran out of ammo and were forced to fend off with their regular weapons. They both toss back a few grenades thrown at them and continued to kill Germans when Mellish's M1 jams. Both of them then heard footsteps coming. Henderson fires his weapon through the wall, killing one man, when a burst of German fire shoots through the room, fatally wounding Henderson. Mellish unjammed his rifle, and killed the German who killed Henderson However, Mellish ran out of ammo, and was forced to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the last Waffen SS soldier. He is eventually killed after a violent fight with the soldier, who stabs him in the chest with his own bayonet as Upman watched, frozen in shock.