WWII · Battle Death Record
John Kelly
Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army · Pennsylvania
Medal of Honor
Personnel File — Core Information
- Name
- John Kelly
- Entered the Service From
- Pennsylvania
- Rank
- Technical Sergeant
- Service
- U.S. Army
- Unit / Regiment
- Company E, 314th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Division
- War
- WWII
- Date of Death
- November 23, 1944
- Awards
- Medal of Honor, Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart
- Burial / Memorial
- Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial, Dinozé, France
- Grave
- Plot A, Row 44, Grave 7
Their story
On June 25, 1944, near Fort du Roule, Cherbourg, France, Corporal Kelly volunteered under withering machinegun fire to climb a slope and destroy an enemy strongpoint using a 10-foot pole charge loaded with explosives, repeatedly exposing himself to hostile fire to neutralize the emplacement and capture its occupants. He was later promoted to Technical Sergeant and died of battle wounds on November 23, 1944; he 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.