KOCAK, MATEJ - Medal of Honor Recipient
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, 66th Company, 5th
Regiment, 2d Division. Place and date: Near Soissons, France, 18 July 1918.
Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Born: 31 December 1882, Gbely (Slovakia),
Austria. G.O. No.: 34, W.D., 1919. (Also received Navy Medal of Honor.)
Citation: When the advance of his battalion was checked by a hidden machinegun
nest, he went forward alone, unprotected by covering fire from his own
men, and worked in between the German positions in the face of fire from
enemy covering detachments. Locating the machinegun nest, he rushed it
and with his bayonet drove off the crew. Shortly after this he organized
25 French colonial soldiers who had become separated from their company
and led them in attacking another machinegun nest, which was also put out
of action.
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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