Weedon Edward Osborne

Lieutenant Junior Grade, U.S. Navy

Medal of Honor Recipient

World War I

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Weedon Edward Osborne (13 November 1892 - 6 June 1918) was a U.S. Navy officer and dentist 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. He was also awarded the U.S. military's second highest award for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross, for the same actions.

Weedon Edward Osborne was born on 13 November 1892 in Chicago, IL. He graduated from Northwestern University Dental School in 1915. He was appointed a U.S. Navy Dental Surgeon with the rank of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) on 8 May 1917. He was assigned duty with the 6th Marine Regiment on 26 March 1918. During the Battle of Belleau Wood, Osborne's unit participated in the advance on Boursches, France, in the Château-Thierry area. Osborne sought to aid the wounded during the battle and was killed while attempting to carry an injured officer to safety on 6 June 1918. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions on that day.

Medal of Honor

Rank and organization: Lieutenant, Junior Grade, (Dental Corps), U.S. Navy.

Citation: For extraordinary heroism while attached to the 6th Regiment, U.S. Marines, in actual conflict with the enemy and under fire during the advance on Bouresche, France, on 6 June 1918. In the hottest of the fighting when the marines made their famous advance on Bouresche at the southern edge of Belleau Wood, Lt (j.g.). Osborne threw himself zealously into the work of rescuing the wounded. Extremely courageous in the performance of this perilous task, he was killed while carrying a wounded officer to a place of safety.

Osborne's Medal of Honor, a rare "Tiffany Cross" version, is held by the U.S. Navy Museum in Washington, DC. The museum acquired the medal in 2003 from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which had confiscated it the year before after someone had attempted to sell the Medal in South Carolina. It is illegal to sell a Medal of Honor within the United States.

Medals and Awards

Medal of Honor
Distinguished Service Cross

Honors

The destroyer USS Osborne (DD-295), which served during the 1920s, was named for Lieutenant Osborne.

Death and Burial

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Weedon Edward Osborne was killed in action on 6 June 1918. He is buried at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial in Belleau, Lorraine Region, France, in
Lot A, Section 3, Grave 39.