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On July 18, 1918 Medal Of Honor WWI
serf
Member Posts: 9,217 ✭✭✭✭
This guy was a tough old fighter for sure!
serf
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fed15
He was nominated for the Medal of Honor twice for his exploits in World War I. Because the military preferred not to confer two such awards on an individual, his first award was changed to a Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest honor given. The action for which Edwards received the Distinguished Service Cross occurred on May 28, 1918, near Cantigny, France. He was serving as a private in Company C, Third Machine Gun Battalion, First Infantry Division, when he was part of a gun squad covering the retreat of the battalion. All the other members of the squad became casualties, and Edwards covered his battalion's retreat by himself, operating an eighty-pound weapon that he carried on his shoulder. As his battalion withdrew he repulsed several counterattacks from flame-throwers as well as other weaponry. He received bayonet wounds in the wrist and stomach but refused to quit until darkness fell. He was evacuated to a hospital, from where he was to be sent back to the United States.
The action that earned him the Medal of Honor took place some weeks later, during the battle of Soissons, on July 18, 1918. Edwards learned that his unit was preparing for another attack, left the hospital without permission, and hitchhiked to the front, where he rejoined his outfit. During the fighting he crawled into a German trench, his severely wounded right arm notwithstanding, and there killed four German soldiers and took four others prisoner. As he marched the group back to his own lines an artillery shell exploded nearby, killing one of the German soldiers and seriously injuring Edwards in his left leg.
serf
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fed15
He was nominated for the Medal of Honor twice for his exploits in World War I. Because the military preferred not to confer two such awards on an individual, his first award was changed to a Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest honor given. The action for which Edwards received the Distinguished Service Cross occurred on May 28, 1918, near Cantigny, France. He was serving as a private in Company C, Third Machine Gun Battalion, First Infantry Division, when he was part of a gun squad covering the retreat of the battalion. All the other members of the squad became casualties, and Edwards covered his battalion's retreat by himself, operating an eighty-pound weapon that he carried on his shoulder. As his battalion withdrew he repulsed several counterattacks from flame-throwers as well as other weaponry. He received bayonet wounds in the wrist and stomach but refused to quit until darkness fell. He was evacuated to a hospital, from where he was to be sent back to the United States.
The action that earned him the Medal of Honor took place some weeks later, during the battle of Soissons, on July 18, 1918. Edwards learned that his unit was preparing for another attack, left the hospital without permission, and hitchhiked to the front, where he rejoined his outfit. During the fighting he crawled into a German trench, his severely wounded right arm notwithstanding, and there killed four German soldiers and took four others prisoner. As he marched the group back to his own lines an artillery shell exploded nearby, killing one of the German soldiers and seriously injuring Edwards in his left leg.
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