Unit/Command: Company M, 35th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division
Military Service Branch: U.S. Army
Medal of Honor Action Date: January 10, 1943
Medal of Honor Action Place: Mount Austen, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
Citation
For gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. As leader of a machine-gun section charged with the protection of other battalion units, his group was attacked by a superior number of Japanese, his gunner killed, his assistant gunner wounded, and an adjoining guncrew put out of action. Ordered to withdraw from this hazardous position, Sgt. Fournier refused to retire but rushed forward to the idle gun and, with the aid of another soldier who joined him, held up the machine gun by the tripod to increase its field of action. They opened fire and inflicted heavy casualties upon the enemy. While so engaged both these gallant soldiers were killed, but their sturdy defensive action was a decisive factor in the following success of the attacking battalion.
Medal of Honor Recipient William G. Fournier
Additional Details
Accredited to: Winterport, Waldo County, Maine
Awarded Posthumously: Yes
Born: June 21, 1913, Norwich, New London County, CT, United States
Died: January 10, 1943, Mount Austen, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
Buried: National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) (MH) (L-462), Honolulu, HI, United States