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Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Machine Gun Company, 107th
Infantry, 27th Division. Place and date: Near Le Catelet, France, 29 September
1918. Entered .service at: Rutherford, N.J. Born: 3 March 1888, Windemere,
England. G.O. No.: 20, W.D., 1919. Citation: Becoming separated from their
platoon by a smoke barrage, Sgt. Latham, Sgt. Alan L. Eggers, and Cpl.
Thomas E. O'Shea took cover in a shellhole well within the enemy's lines.
Upon hearing a call for help from an American tank which had become disabled
30 yards from them, the 3 soldiers left their shelter and started toward
the tank under heavy fire from German machineguns and trench mortars. In
crossing the fire-swept area, Cpl. O'Shea was mortally wounded, but his
companions, undeterred, proceeded to the tank, rescued a wounded officer,
and assisted 2 wounded soldiers to cover in the sap of a nearby trench.
Sgts. Latham and Eggers then returned to the tank in the face of the violent
fire, dismounted a Hotchkiss gun, and took it back to where the wounded
men were keeping off the enemy all day by effective use of the gun and
later bringing it with the wounded men back to our lines under cover of
darkness.
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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