The President of the United States
in the name of
The Congress
takes pleasure in presenting the
Medal of Honor
to
BARKLEY, JOHN L.
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.
|
