GOETTLER, HAROLD ERNEST - Medal of Honor Recipient
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, pilot, U.S. Army Air Corps,
50th Aero Squadron, Air Service. Place and date: Near Binarville, France,
6 October 1918. Entered service at: Chicago, Ill. Born: 21 July 1890, Chicago,
Ill. G.O. No.: 56, W.D., 1922. Citation: 1st. Lt. Goettler, with his observer,
2d Lt. Erwin R. Bleckley, 130th Field Artillery, left the airdrome late
in the afternoon on their second trip to drop supplies to a battalion of
the 77th Division which had been cut off by the enemy in the Argonne Forest.
Having been subjected on the first trip to violent fire from the enemy,
they attempted on the second trip to come still lower in order to get the
packages even more precisely on the designated spot. In the course of this
mission the plane was brought down by enemy rifle and machinegun fire from
the ground, resulting in the instant death of 1st. Lt. Goettler. In attempting
and performing this mission 1st. Lt. Goettler showed the highest possible
contempt of personal danger, devotion to duty, courage and valor.
This data was extracted from the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, U.S. Senate, Medal of Honor Recipients: 1863-1973 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1973)
Browse Records by Era / War / Subject |
