James D. Heriot

Charging machine guns alone, he fought on despite his wounds

James Davidson Heriot was a corporal in Company I, 118th Infantry, 30th Division. Near Vaux-Andigny, France, on October 12, 1918, he joined four other soldiers attacking a machine-gun nest. After two men were killed and two sought shelter, Heriot advanced alone with a fixed bayonet and forced the enemy to surrender.

Despite an arm wound, he continued fighting and was killed while attacking another position. Born in Providence, South Carolina, on November 2, 1890, Heriot was buried at Rembert Methodist Church Cemetery in Woodrow. His mother received his posthumous Medal of Honor in Sumter on February 22, 1919.

Medal of Honor citation

Cpl. Heriot, with four other soldiers, organized a combat group and attacked an enemy machine-gun nest which had been inflicting heavy casualties on his company. In the advance two of his men were killed, and because of the heavy fire from all sides the remaining two sought shelter. Unmindful of the hazard attached to his mission, Cpl. Heriot, with fixed bayonet, alone charged the machine gun, making his way through the fire for a distance of 30 yards and forcing the enemy to surrender. During this exploit he received several wounds in the arm, and later in the same day, while charging another nest, he was killed.