WWI · Battle Death Record
Fred Smith
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army · North Dakota
Medal of Honor
Personnel File — Core Information
- Name
- Fred Smith
- Entered the Service From
- North Dakota
- Rank
- Lieutenant Colonel
- Service
- U.S. Army
- Unit / Regiment
- 308th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division
- War
- WWI
- Date of Death
- September 29, 1918
- Awards
- Medal of Honor, World War I Victory Medal, Legion of Honour (France), Croix de Guerre (France), Croce al Merito di Guerra (Italy)
- Burial / Memorial
- Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France
- Grave
- Plot A, Row 7, Grave 18
Their story
On September 29, 1918, near Binarville, France, Lt. Col. Smith advanced to reestablish communication and supply lines when his party came under German machine gun fire at close range; though severely wounded in the side, he continued firing to cover his men's withdrawal and retrieved grenades for a renewed assault on the enemy emplacements. He was mortally wounded while attempting to locate the nearest machine gun nest, and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
Compiled from American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) and National Archives (NARA) records and public sources.
This record is one of more than 200,000 in our historical archive. Some information may have been corrupted or lost over decades of data conversion. Corrections are welcome — please contact the archive.