Medal of Honor: Joel Thompson Boone – World War I, July 19, 1918

Name: Joel Thompson Boone
Rank: Lieutenant (Medical Corps)
Conflict: World War I
Unit: Attached to 6th Regiment, U.S. Marine Corps
Date of Action: July 19, 1918
Location: Near Vierzy, France

On the blood-soaked fields near Vierzy, France, during the brutal Allied offensive of July 1918, Lieutenant Joel T. Boone, a Navy medical officer attached to the 6th Marine Regiment, distinguished himself with fearless devotion to duty and astonishing personal courage. As Marines surged forward through barbed wire and machine gun nests in the shattered countryside, enemy fire raked the open ground with deadly precision, and clouds of gas hung low over the battlefield. Wounded men cried out amid the chaos, exposed and dying.

Without hesitation, Boone left the safety of a ravine and ran into the storm of bullets and shrapnel. Time and again, he crossed ground swept by artillery and machine gun fire—often with no cover—to reach the wounded where they fell. He applied tourniquets, administered morphine, and dressed grisly wounds on the spot, refusing to wait for stretcher teams or hope for lulls in the fighting. Despite the choking gas and the deadly hail of steel, Boone moved swiftly and calmly, saving lives under fire with a surgeon’s hands and a warrior’s heart.

When his medical supplies ran out, Boone mounted a sidecar motorcycle and drove through a barrage of high-explosive and gas shells to replenish his stock. He returned through the same deadly gauntlet to resume treating the wounded. Later that day, he made a second trip through the shell fire—undaunted, unstoppable. His selfless actions were witnessed by dozens of Marines who took heart from the sight of the doctor who would not let them die alone.

Boone’s gallantry not only saved countless lives that day—it became a legend among the men of the 6th Marines. His actions reflected a profound commitment to the wounded and a level of personal bravery rarely equaled in the annals of military medicine.

Lieutenant Joel T. Boone would survive the war and continue a remarkable career, eventually becoming the most decorated medical officer in U.S. military history. He received the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Purple Heart, and multiple foreign decorations for valor. After the war, he served as White House physician to Presidents Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower. Yet among all his honors, it was on the killing fields of France that he earned the undying respect of the Marines whose lives he fought so hard to save.

Medal of Honor Citation:
For extraordinary heroism, conspicuous gallantry, and intrepidity while serving with the 6th Regiment, U.S. Marines, in actual conflict with the enemy. With absolute disregard for personal safety, ever conscious and mindful of the suffering fallen, Surg. Boone, leaving the shelter of a ravine, went forward onto the open field where there was no protection and despite the extreme enemy fire of all calibers, through a heavy mist of gas, applied dressings and first aid to wounded marines. This occurred southeast of Vierzy, near the cemetery, and on the road south from that town. When the dressings and supplies had been exhausted, he went through a heavy barrage of large-caliber shells, both high explosive and gas, to replenish these supplies, returning quickly with a sidecar load, and administered them in saving the lives of the wounded. A second trip, under the same conditions and for the same purpose, was made by Surg. Boone later that day.