Rural Missouri - February 2021 - 18

photos courtesy the National WWI Museum and Memorial

Left: John's many medals included the highest honors from six grateful nations, including the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor. The many
ceremonies in his honor led him to write that " the medal business got monotonous after a while. " Right: John poses with a man believed to be his
friend William Floyd, with whom he shared many adventures during the war. William is mentioned frequently in John's memoir.

4,000 spent cartridges piled up inside the tank.
Despite this and many other acts of heroism that put
John in harm's way, he survived the war. On March 16,
1919, John's company commander told him to clean up his
uniform for no apparent reason. His unit joined others lined
up on a captured German airfield. Called out with another
soldier, John worried that his insubordination finally had
caught up with him.
Instead, fellow Missourian Gen. John J. Pershing pinned
the Congressional Medal of Honor - literally - on John's
chest. The general's aide followed up by putting the medal
where it belonged.
John didn't even know what the general had pinned to
him until he spotted the distinctive blue ribbon with white
stars signifying the Medal of Honor. " After that I got some
other medals, " John wrote. " In fact, the medal business got
monotonous after a while. "
Grateful nations added the British Distinguished Service Cross, French Medaille militaire and Croix de Guerre,
Belgian Croix de Guerre and War Cross, the Italian War
Cross and Medal de Bravere from Montenegro. John's Victory Medal would include multiple bars in recognition of the
action he saw.
After the war John returned to the family farm near

18

RURAL MISSOURI | FEBRUARY 2021

Blairstown and tried to put the war behind him. The house
he returned to was a new one built by his parents in 1918.
Today it is owned by Ira and Ruth Hammond, who are
members of West Central Electric Cooperative.
" He grew up in a log cabin from what I understand from
people who have lived here a long time, " Ruth says. " In my
generation - I'm 88 - several people know of him and
know the story. I'm not sure that the younger ones do. He
didn't make any bones about being brave or anything. He
was just lucky the way it happened. "
A letter John wrote to a friend related his feelings about
his homecoming: " I wouldn't give these Missouri woods up
for all the bright lights, Army camp theaters and gay times.
I like to get out at times and tear hell out of things - but I
was born in the woods - I love the woods and swamps. "
John would see others capitalize on their fame, including Sgt. York and aviator Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker. The
farm economy barely provided enough money to support his
mother, so John decided to publish his memoirs in an effort
to hold on to the land as the Great Depression settled on
the nation.
A natural storyteller whose mother once remarked that
John needed a bag to carry home all of the " ones that got
away, " John worked with a ghostwriter to tell his exploits



Rural Missouri - February 2021

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Rural Missouri - February 2021 - Contents
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