Earle Davis Gregory

He charged the guns and took an enemy position singlehanded.

Earle Davis Gregory fought with the 116th Infantry, 29th Division, in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Born in Clayville, Virginia, on 18 October 1897, he attended Fork Union Military Academy and joined the Virginia Volunteers in 1915. He later served as a sergeant in the Army's wartime infantry.

On 8 October 1918 at Bois-de-Consenvoye, France, machine-gun fire halted his detachment. Gregory advanced alone with a rifle and a trench-mortar shell used as a grenade. He captured a machine gun and three men, pressed on to seize a 7.5-centimetre mountain howitzer, and then took another 19 prisoners from a dugout. The action earned the Medal of Honor.

Three days later shrapnel wounded his leg. After prolonged hospital treatment he returned to Virginia and was discharged in April 1919. Major General Omar Bundy presented his Medal of Honor at Camp Lee on 29 April.

Gregory entered Virginia Polytechnic Institute that autumn through a disabled veterans programme. He became a cadet leader and student-body president, and remained active in veterans' organisations. He died in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on 6 January 1972. His papers and medals went to Virginia Tech, whose precision drill unit carries his name as the Gregory Guard.