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Medal of Honor Recipient

Donald Leroy Truesdell

U.S. Marine Corps · Second Nicaraguan Campaign

MOH-RC-001342Source-based record

The award

Representative medal image: Navy star design with the 1913 blue ribbon. Not a portrait or a photograph of this recipient’s own medal.
Navy Medal of HonorAction-era reference: 1932

Portrait not yet available. Representative medal shown.

About this image

Presentation date is not usable for design selection. This is an action-era reference; a later presentation or replacement medal may differ. The Navy used more than one design in this period. No Tiffany Cross attribution is inferred from service or conflict alone.

Medal imagery and historical designs →

Medal of Honor

April 24, 1932

vicinity of Constancia, near Coco River, northern Nicaragua, Nicaragua

Rank at action
Corporal
Service
U.S. Marine Corps
Conflict
Second Nicaraguan Campaign
Unit or command
Not documented

The Citation

Sources ↓
Cpl. Truesdale was second in command of a Guardia Nacional Patrol in active operations against armed bandit forces in the vicinity of Constancia, near Coco River, northern Nicaragua, on 24 April 1932. While the patrol was in formation on the trail searching for a bandit group with which contact had just previously been made, a rifle grenade fell from its carrier and struck a rock, igniting the detonator. Several men close to the grenade at the time were in danger. Cpl. Truesdale, who was several yards away, could easily have sought cover and safety for himself. Knowing full well the grenade would explode within 2 or 3 seconds, he rushed for the grenade, grasped it in his right hand, and attempted to throw it away from the patrol. The grenade exploded in his hand, blowing it off and inflicting serious multiple wounds about his body. Cpl. Truesdale, in taking the full shock of the explosion himself, saved the members of the patrol from loss of life or serious injury.
Separately preserved current-source wording

Captured from the linked current recipient source; it is not a new comparison with an original General Order.

Cpl. Truesdale was second in command of a Guardia Nacional Patrol in active operations against armed bandit forces in the vicinity of Constancia, near Coco River, northern Nicaragua, on 24 April 1932. While the patrol was in formation on the trail searching for a bandit group with which contact had just previously been made, a rifle grenade fell from its carrier and struck a rock, igniting the detonator. Several men close to the grenade at the time were in danger. Cpl. Truesdale, who was several yards away, could easily have sought cover and safety for himself. Knowing full well the grenade would explode within two or three seconds, he rushed for the grenade, grasped it in his right hand, and attempted to throw it away from the patrol. The grenade exploded in his hand, blowing it off and inflicting serious multiple wounds about his body. Cpl. Truesdale, in taking the full shock of the explosion himself, saved the members of the patrol from loss of life or serious injury.

Sources & record notes

General Order comparison: pending. Current-profile review does not mean that the underlying original order has been examined.

  1. Donald Leroy Truesdell — current Society profile ↗Congressional Medal of Honor Society · Checked 2026-08-28

    current identity, service, action metadata, and citation comparison

  2. Donald Leroy Truesdell — Naval History and Heritage Command ↗Naval History and Heritage Command · Checked 2026-08-28

    official Donald Leroy Truesdell/Truesdale identity, action place, April 24, 1932 action date, and citation

Transcription, metadata & provenance notes
Award ID
MOH-AW-001350
Transcription status
Legacy full text · current reference profile matched
Last source check
2026-08-28
Other source date wording
1932-04-14
Later or highest recorded rank
Chief Warrent Officer 2
Entered service at
South Carolina
Archive transcription SHA-256
fbebf7d42f5d48457e2cdaebc61869e7439a2c59d18d73ba2299caa97ce6a645

Legacy transcription retained without substantive editing; current rendered profile variants documented in the Phase 10 evidence snapshot.

Controlled Society search recovered the current Donald Leroy Truesdell profile. The Society structured field shows April 14, 1932, while its citation, the inherited row, and official Naval History and Heritage Command material identify April 24, 1932. The canonical action date is April 24; both official renderings remain preserved. The Society’s exact later-rank spelling “Chief Warrent Officer 2” is retained as source text.

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