BARKLEY, JOHN L. - Medal of Honor Recipient
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company K, 4th
Infantry, 3d Division. Place and date: Near Cunel, France, 7 October 1918.
Entered service at: Blairstown, Mo. Born: 28 August 1895 Blairstown, Mo.
G.O. No.: 44, W.D., 1919. Citation: Pfc. Barkley, who was stationed in
an observation post half a kilometer from the German line, on his own initiative
repaired a captured enemy machinegun and mounted it in a disabled French
tank near his post. Shortly afterward, when the enemy launched a counterattack
against our forces, Pfc. Barkley got into the tank, waited under the hostile
barrage until the enemy line was abreast of him and then opened fire, completely
breaking up the counterattack and killing and wounding a large number of
the enemy. Five minutes later an enemy 77-millimeter gun opened fire on
the tank pointblank. One shell struck the drive wheel of the tank, but
this soldier nevertheless remained in the tank and after the barrage ceased
broke up a second enemy counterattack, thereby enabling our forces to gain
and hold Hill 25.
This data was extracted from the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, U.S. Senate, Medal of Honor Recipients: 1863-1973 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1973)
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