John L Barkley

John Lewis Barkley (August 28, 1895 - April 14, 1966) was a United States Army Medal of Honor recipient of World War I. Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Barkley served as a Private First Class in Company K, 4th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Division. He earned the medal while fighting near Cunel, France, on October 7, 1918. His autobiography, "Scarlet Fields: The Combat Memoir of a World War I Medal of Honor Hero," details his service leading up to and following his Medal of Honor action. The book draws comparisons as the American literary response to "All Quiet on the Western Front." Barkley died in 1966, and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri.

Citation:

Pfc. Barkley, who was stationed in an observation post half a kilometer from the German line, on his own initiative repaired a captured enemy machinegun and mounted it in a disabled French tank near his post. Shortly afterward, when the enemy launched a counterattack against our forces, Pfc. Barkley got into the tank, waited under hostile barrage until the enemy line was abreast of him and then opened fire, completely breaking up the counterattack and killing and wounding a large number of the enemy. Five minutes later an enemy 77-millimeter gun opened fire on the tank point blank. One shell struck the drive wheel of the tank, but this soldier nevertheless remained in the tank and after the barrage ceased broke up a second enemy counterattack, thereby enabling our forces to gain and hold Hill 25.