Unit/Command: Company M, 167th Infantry, 42d Division
Military Service Branch: U.S. Army
Medal of Honor Action Date: October 16, 1918
Medal of Honor Action Place: near Landres-et-St. Georges, France
Citation
On the afternoon of 16 October 1918, when the Cote-de-Chatillion had just been gained after bitter fighting and the summit of the strong bulwark in the Kriemhilde Stellung was being organized, Pvt. Neibaur was sent out on patrol with his automatic rifle squad to enfilade enemy machine-gun nests. As he gained the ridge, he set up his automatic rifle and was directly thereafter wounded in both legs by fire from a hostile machine gun on his flank. The advance wave of the enemy troops, counterattacking, had about gained the ridge, and although practically cut off and surrounded, the remainder of his detachment being killed or wounded, this gallant soldier kept his automatic rifle in operation to such effect that by his own efforts and by fire from the skirmish line of his company, at least 100 yards in his rear, the attack was checked. The enemy wave being halted and lying prone, four of the enemy attacked Pvt. Neibaur at close quarters. These he killed. He then moved alone among the enemy lying on the ground about him, in the midst of the fire from his own lines, and by coolness and gallantry captured 11 prisoners at the point of his pistol and, although painfully wounded, brought them back to our lines. The counterattack in full force was arrested to a large extent by the single efforts of this soldier, whose heroic exploits took place against the skyline in full view of his entire battalion.
Medal of Honor Recipient Thomas C. Neibaur
Additional Details
Accredited to: Sugar City, Madison County, Idaho
Awarded Posthumously: No
Presentation Date & Details: February 9, 1919 Chaumont, France, presented by Gen. John J. Pershing
Born: May 17, 1898, Sharon, Bear Lake County, ID, United States
Died: December 23, 1942, Walla Walla, WA, United States
Buried: Sugar City Cemetery (MH) (2-38-3), Sugar City, ID, United States