Harold Ernest Goettler

Flew low through enemy fire to supply the surrounded troops.

Harold Ernest Goettler was born on July 21, 1890, in Chicago, Illinois. He served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Service's 50th Aero Squadron during World War I.

On October 6, 1918, near Binarville, France, Goettler and observer Erwin R. Bleckley flew supplies to a battalion of the 77th Division surrounded in the Argonne Forest. Enemy fire had threatened their first trip. They returned at a lower altitude to place the packages more accurately.

Rifle and machine-gun fire brought their aircraft down, killing Goettler during the mission. His posthumous Medal of Honor recognized courage and devotion to the isolated soldiers. The award was mailed to his mother in 1923.

Goettler is buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago. His sacrifice commemorates the dangers faced by early military aviators trying to sustain troops cut off from support.

Medal of Honor Citation

First Lt. Harold E. 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 his mission the plane was brought down by enemy rifle and machine-gun 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.