On that day, near Lohe (a suburb of Nuremberg), Germany, he singlehandedly attacked German positions that were firing on his unit.
Private Merrell's official Medal of Honor citation reads: He made a gallant, 1-man attack against vastly superior enemy forces near Lohe, Germany.
He ran 100 yards through concentrated fire, barely escaping death at each stride, and at point blank range engaged 4 German machine pistolmen with his rifle, killing all of them while their bullets ripped his uniform.
Rearmed, he crawled toward the second machine gun located 30 yards away, killing 4 Germans in camouflaged foxholes on the way, but himself receiving a critical wound in the abdomen.
Merrell killed 6 Germans in the first machine gun emplacement, 7 in the next, and an additional 10 infantrymen who were astride his path to the weapons that would have decimated his unit had he not assumed the burden of the assault and stormed the enemy positions with utter fearlessness, intrepidity of the highest order, and a willingness to sacrifice his own life so that his comrades could go on to victory.A former SS barracks in Nürnberg, Germany was acquired by the US Army and renamed the Merrell Barracks.
A plaque dedicated to Private Merrell's honor is in the Clove Lakes Park, Staten Island, NY.