Medal of Honor
October 14, 1918–October 15, 1918
near Landres-et-St. Georges, France
- Rank at action
- Lieutenant Colonel
- Service
- U.S. Army
- Conflict
- World War I
- Unit or command
- 165th Infantry, 42d Division
- Presentation date
- December 31, 1922
The Citation
Sources ↓Sources & record notes
General Order comparison: pending. Current-profile review does not mean that the underlying original order has been examined.
- William Joseph "Wild Bill" Donovan — current Society profile ↗Congressional Medal of Honor Society · Checked 2026-08-30
current identity, service, action metadata, and citation comparison
Transcription, metadata & provenance notes
- Award ID
- MOH-AW-002303
- Transcription status
- Legacy full text · current reference profile matched
- Last source check
- 2026-08-30
- Recorded order reference (not verified against the original)
- 56
- Later or highest recorded rank
- Major General
- Entered service at
- Buffalo, N.Y.
- Archive transcription SHA-256
- d90930c3fb993ac66907fde8d05554e157a44cd876b231ccf8e87ee544002a81
Legacy transcription retained without substantive editing; rendered current reference profile variants documented in the Phase 10 evidence snapshot.
The canonical reference profile was recovered through a controlled archival reference search outside the inherited candidate set and then confirmed by substantive comparison of identity, service, rank, unit or command, action context, and citation; successful rendering alone was not treated as verification. The current authoritative source expands or normalizes the inherited name from William Joseph Donovan to William Joseph "Wild Bill" Donovan; both renderings remain preserved. The exact current profile heading is William Joseph “wild bill” Donovan; the controlled display name is William Joseph "Wild Bill" Donovan, and both forms remain preserved. Documented aliases remain attached to this stable recipient identity: Wild Bill Donovan. No identity merge or split was performed. The action rank Lieutenant Colonel remains distinct from the later or highest rank Major General. The controlled canonical unit or command is 165th Infantry, 42d Division; the current structured profile renders 165th Infantry, 42d Division, and the inherited wording 165th Infantry, 42d Division remains preserved as a separately attributed variant. The current authoritative evidence controls the action date as 1918-10-14 through 1918-10-15 and classifies the action under World War I; the inherited unnormalized date and conflict values remain preserved in the audit record. The controlled historical action place is near Landres-et-St. Georges, France; the current structured place near Landres-et-St. Georges, France and the complete inherited geocoder value Landres-et-Saint-Georges, France remain preserved in the audit evidence. The inherited full citation remains canonical and checksum-protected; current rendered wording is preserved separately where transcribed. No underlying General Order was examined, so the exact-order gate remains pending and no General Order verification is claimed.