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John Cridland Latham |
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Engagements: • World War I (1914 - 1918) |
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Biography: | ||||
John Cridland Latham Warrant Officer, U.S. Army Medal of Honor Recipient World War I Warrant Officer John Cridland Latham (3 March 1888 - 5 November 1975) was a U.S. Army soldier who received the U.S. military's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, for his heroic actions during World War I. John Cridland Latham was born on 3 March 1888, in Windemere, England. He immigrated to the U.S. and joined the Army from Rutherford, NJ. On 29 September 1918, he was serving as a Sergeant in Machine Gun Company, 107th Infantry Regiment, 27th Division. On that day near Le Catelet, in northeastern France, Latham and two other soldiers, Sergeant Alan L. Eggers and Corporal Thomas E. O'Shea, left cover to rescue the crew of a disabled American tank. O'Shea was killed in the process, but Latham and Eggers successfully defended the wounded tank crewmen from German fire all day and carried them to the safety of the Allied lines after nightfall. For this action, all three soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor the next year. Medal of Honor Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Machine Gun Company, 107th Infantry, 27th Division. Place and date: Near Le Catelet, France, 29 September 1918. 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. Latham remained in the Army after the war and rose to the rank of Warrant Officer. Death and Burial Sergeant John Cridland Latham died on 5 November 1975. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA, in Section 35, Grave 1127. |
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Honoree ID: 1785 | Created by: MHOH |