Award 1 · Army Medal of Honor
October 3, 1918
Blanc Mont Ridge, France
- Rank at action
- Private
- Service
- U.S. Marine Corps
- Conflict
- World War I
- Unit or command
- 78th Company, 6th Regiment, 2d Division
- Presentation date
- December 31, 1919
The Citation
Sources ↓Pvt. Kelly ran through our own barrage 100 yards in advance of the front line and attacked an enemy machine-gun nest, killing the gunner with a grenade, shooting another member of the crew with his pistol, and returning through the barrage with eight prisoners.
Preserved earlier transcription
Also received the Army Medal of Honor. Pvt. Kelly ran through our own barrage 100 yards in advance of the front line and attacked an enemy machinegun nest, killing the gunner with a grenade, shooting another member of the crew with his pistol, and returning through the barrage with 8 prisoners.
Sources & record notes
General Order comparison: pending. Current-profile review does not mean that the underlying original order has been examined.
- John Joseph Kelly — current Society profile (Army Medal of Honor) ↗Congressional Medal of Honor Society · Checked 2026-08-26
current identity, service, action metadata, award multiplicity, and citation comparison
Transcription, metadata & provenance notes
- Award ID
- MOH-AW-000320
- Transcription status
- Current-profile dual-award transcription
- Last source check
- 2026-08-26
- Recorded order reference (not verified against the original)
- 16
- Entered service at
- Chicago, Ill.
- Accredited to
- Illinois
- Archive transcription SHA-256
- 9c68b3618cd4dcc6321bf3638748c6ec43bdfae3e1cd87163badd0cddc8e811c
Legacy combined-row transcription preserved; Army and Navy variants transcribed separately from the current reference profile.
The current reference profile explicitly documents both Army and Navy Medals of Honor for the same deed. The inherited combined row is expanded into two canonical award records; its complete legacy citation remains preserved.