Unit/Command: 3d Platoon, Machine Gun Company, 107th Infantry, 27th Division
Military Service Branch: U.S. Army
Medal of Honor Action Date: September 29, 1918
Medal of Honor Action Place: near Le Catelet, France
Citation
Becoming separated from their platoon by a smoke barrage, Sgt. Eggers, Sgt. John C. Latham and Cpl. Thomas E. O'Shea took cover in a shell hole well within the enemy's lines. Upon hearing a call for help from an American tank, which had become disabled 30 yards from them, the three soldiers left their shelter and started towards the tank, under heavy fire from German machine guns and trench mortars. In crossing the fire-swept area Cpl. O'Shea was mortally wounded, but his companions, undeterred, proceeded to the tank, rescued a wounded officer, and assisted two wounded soldiers to cover in a sap of a nearby trench. Sgt. Eggers and Sgt. Latham then returned to the tank in the face of the violent fire, dismounted a Hotchkiss gun, and took it back to where the wounded men were, keeping off the enemy all day by effective use of the gun and later bringing it, with the wounded men, back to our lines under cover of darkness.
Additional Details
Accredited to: Summit, Union County, New Jersey
Awarded Posthumously: No
Presentation Date & Details: February 4, 1919 Chaumont, France, presented by Gen. John J. Pershing
Born: November 2, 1895, Saranac Lake, Franklin County, NY, United States
Died: October 3, 1968
Buried: Arlington National Cemetery (MH) (2-3389-A), Arlington, VA, United States