The Patriot Post® · Profiles of Valor: Pvt John J. Kelly (USMC)
Of the 3,533 military recipients of our nation’s highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, amazingly, there are 19 U.S. service members who have received two Medals of Honor. Among them, 14 received two Medals for separate actions of valor, and five WWI servicemen received both the Army and Navy Medals of Honor for the same action. Following WWI, regulations were changed so that two different service branch Medals of Honor would not be awarded for a single action.
I have previously profiled two notable Marine double recipients for different actions, MajGen Smedley Butler and SgtMaj Daniel Daly.
Among the WWI double recipients is another Marine, Private John Kelly.
Kelly was a Chicago native who enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1917, after the U.S. declared war against Germany in the third year of World War I.
In September after completing boot camp, he joined 7th Company, 6th Regiment, 2d Division, American Expeditionary Forces at Quantico, Virginia. He transferred to 78th Company, and in January of 1918 the 78th embarked from Philadelphia on the USS Henderson, arriving in St. Nazaire, France, on February 5.
Kelly saw action at Château-Thierry, St. Mihiel, Blanc Mont, and the Meuse-Argonne offensive.
It was at the battle for Blanc Mont Ridge on 13 October 1918 that he would earn a Medal of Honor for his heroic actions.
War historian William Welsh notes:
The Marine attack on Blanc Mont Ridge began at 05:50 on October 3. After an initial five-minute barrage, the lead units stepped off. They fought their way steadily up the slopes towards the crest behind a rolling artillery barrage. As anticipated, the Germans in the Essen Hook poured heavy machine gun fire into the left flank of the advancing Marines. The Americans were mortified that the troops of the French 21st Division did not attack the Essen Hook as directed.
Next, as affirmed by Kelly’s MoH citations from both the Army and Navy:
Pvt. Kelly ran through our own barrage 100 yards in advance of the front line and attacked an enemy machine-gun nest, killing the gunner with a grenade, shooting another member of the crew with his pistol, and returning through the barrage with eight prisoners.
Welsh concludes: “When he saw his fellow Marines, Kelly greeted them with a matter-of-fact pronouncement. ‘Just what I told you I’d do,’ he shouted.”
Kelly received his Medal of Honor in a battlefield presentation by General John “Black Jack” Pershing, Commander-in-Chief, American Expeditionary Forces. At the time, Pvt Kelly was assigned to the Army of Occupation.
Notably, Kelly was also the recipient of four Silver Stars for his actions while serving with the 78th in the battles of Chateau-Thierry, France, 6 June-10 July 1918; Thiaucourt, France, 15 September 1918; and St. Mihiel, France, 12-16 September 1918. He was also the recipient of the World War I Victory Medal, five Bronze Stars, and the French Médaille Militaire and Croix de Guerre.
Kelly died in 1957 at the age of 59 and is buried at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Pvt John J. Kelly: An ordinary man faced with extraordinary circumstances, he summoned the greatest measure of courage to place his life in imminent peril to save others. Your example of valor — a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty — is eternal. Live your life worthy of his sacrifice.
“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
(Read more Profiles of Valor here.)
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776
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