Medal of Honor
October 6, 1918
near Binarville, France
- Rank at action
- First Lieutenant
- Service
- U.S. Army Air Service
- Conflict
- World War I
- Unit or command
- 50th Aero Squadron, Air Service
- Presentation date
- December 31, 1922
The Citation
Sources ↓1st. Lt. Goettler, with his observer, 2d Lt. Erwin R. Bleckley, 130th Field Artillery, left the airdrome late in the afternoon on their second trip to drop supplies to a battalion of the 77th Division which had been cut off by the enemy in the Argonne Forest. Having been subjected on the first trip to violent fire from the enemy, they attempted on the second trip to come still lower in order to get the packages even more precisely on the designated spot. In the course of this mission the plane was brought down by enemy rifle and machinegun fire from the ground, resulting in the instant death of 1st. Lt. Goettler. In attempting and performing this mission 1st. Lt. Goettler showed the highest possible contempt of personal danger, devotion to duty, courage and valor.
Sources & record notes
General Order comparison: pending. Current-profile review does not mean that the underlying original order has been examined.
- Harold Ernest Goettler — current Society profile ↗Congressional Medal of Honor Society · Checked 2026-08-26
current identity, service, action metadata, and citation comparison
Transcription, metadata & provenance notes
- Award ID
- MOH-AW-000310
- Transcription status
- Legacy full text · current reference profile matched
- Last source check
- 2026-08-26
- Recorded order reference (not verified against the original)
- 56
- Entered service at
- Chicago, Ill.
- Archive transcription SHA-256
- b548890e51b0725810ea6e8d10aa7027d3a2176c8ad89c987eb6aa550031d326
Legacy transcription retained without substantive editing; current rendered profile variants documented in the Phase 10 evidence snapshot.
The current profile refines the service to U.S. Army Air Service.