Award 1 · Army Medal of Honor
July 18, 1918
Soissons, France
- Rank at action
- Sergeant
- Service
- U.S. Marine Corps
- Conflict
- World War I
- Unit or command
- 66th Company, 5th Regiment, 2d Division
- Presentation date
- December 31, 1919
The Citation
Sources ↓When the advance of his battalion was checked by a hidden machine-gun nest, he went forward alone, unprotected by covering fire from his own men, and worked in between the German positions in the face of fire from enemy covering detachments. Locating the machine-gun nest, he rushed it and with his bayonet and drove off the crew. Shortly after this he organized 25 French colonial soldiers who had become separated from their company and led them in attacking another machine-gun nest, which was also put out of action.
Preserved earlier transcription
Also received the Army Medal of Honor. When the advance of his battalion was checked by a hidden machinegun nest, he went forward alone, unprotected by covering fire from his own men, and worked in between the German positions in the face of fire from enemy covering detachments. Locating the machinegun nest, he rushed it and with his bayonet drove off the crew. Shortly after this he organized 25 French colonial soldiers who had become separated from their company and led them in attacking another machinegun nest, which was also put out of action.
Sources & record notes
General Order comparison: pending. Current-profile review does not mean that the underlying original order has been examined.
- Matej Kocak — 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-000322
- Transcription status
- Current-profile dual-award transcription
- Last source check
- 2026-08-26
- Recorded order reference (not verified against the original)
- 34
- Entered service at
- New York, N.Y.
- Accredited to
- New York
- Archive transcription SHA-256
- 4620c73cc0c650df9d43bed6d544d22d2d127b6f6866a46ceee77d60bbd24695
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.