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First Name: Wilbur

Last Name: Colyer

Birthplace: Brooklyn, NY, USA

Gender: Male

Branch: Army (1784 - present)



Home of Record: Long Island, NY
Middle Name: E.



Date of Birth: 05 March 1898

Date of Death: 10 October 1918

Rank: Sergeant

Years Served: 1917 - 1918
Wilbur E. Colyer

   
Engagements:
•  World War I (1914 - 1918)

Biography:

Wilbur E. Colyer

Sergeant, U.S. Army

Medal of Honor Recipient

World War I

Sergeant Wilbur E. Colyer (5 March 1898 - 10 October 1918) was a U.S. Army soldier who was posthumously awarded the U.S. military's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, for his heroic actions during World War I.

Wilbur E. Colyer was born on 5 March 1898 in Brooklyn, NY. After enlisting in the Army he was sent to France to fight in World War I. His heroic actions near Verdun, France, on 9 October 1918 earned him the Medal of Honor.

Medal of Honor

Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company A, 1st Engineers, 1st Division.

Place and date: Near Verdun, France, 9 October 1918.

Citation: Volunteering with 2 other soldiers to locate machinegun nests, Sgt. Colyer advanced on the hostile positions to a point where he was half surrounded by the nests, which were in ambush. He killed the gunner of one gun with a captured German grenade and then turned this gun on the other nests silencing all of them before he returned to his platoon. He was later killed in action.

Death and Burial

Sergeant Wilbur E. Colyer was killed in action on 10 October 1918. He is buried at Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY, in Section 2, Grave 8588.



Honoree ID: 1747   Created by: MHOH

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