Jesse R. Drowley

Rescued Wounded Men and Guided a Tank Under Fire

Jesse Ray Drowley was a Michigan-born lumber worker whose initiative on Bougainville earned the Medal of Honor during World War II. Born in St. Charles in 1919, he enlisted in the United States Army from Spokane, Washington, in 1941. He served with Company B, 1st Battalion, 132nd Infantry Regiment, Americal Division, gaining combat experience in the Solomon Islands before becoming a staff sergeant and squad leader.

On 30 January 1944, his platoon was holding the perimeter as a reserve while other troops attacked Japanese positions on Bougainville. Seeing wounded men stranded beyond cover, Drowley went forward to rescue them. During the rescue, he identified a concealed pillbox that the supporting tanks had missed. He arranged help for the remaining casualty, crossed to a tank, and rode outside it to show the crew where to fire. Despite being seriously wounded, he stayed until the defensive positions had been destroyed.

Official Medal of Honor citation

For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy at Bougainville, Solomon Islands, 30 January 1944. S/Sergeant. Drowley, a squad leader in a platoon whose mission during an attack was to remain under cover while holding the perimeter defense and acting as a reserve for assaulting echelon, saw 3 members of the assault company fall badly wounded. When intense hostile fire prevented aid from reaching the casualties, he fearlessly rushed forward to carry the wounded to cover. After rescuing 2 men, S/Sergeant. Drowley discovered an enemy pillbox undetected by assaulting tanks that was inflicting heavy casualties upon the attacking force and was a chief obstacle to the success of the advance. Delegating the rescue of the third man to an assistant, he ran across open terrain to 1 of the tanks. Signaling to the crew, he climbed to the turret, exchanged his weapon for a submachine gun and voluntarily rode the deck of the tank directing it toward the pillbox by tracer fire. The tank, under constant heavy enemy fire, continued to within 20 feet of the pillbox where S/Sergeant. Drowley received a severe bullet wound in the chest. Refusing to return for medical treatment, he remained on the tank and continued to direct its progress until the enemy box was definitely located by the crew. At this point he again was wounded by small arms fire, losing his left eye and falling to the ground. He remained alongside the tank until the pillbox had been completely demolished and another directly behind the first destroyed. S/Sergeant. Drowley, his voluntary mission successfully accomplished, returned alone for medical treatment.

Drowley recovered in military hospitals in California and Washington. President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented his Medal of Honor at the White House on 30 August 1944. He left the Army that December and returned to Spokane. After operating a garage, he worked as a mechanic and welder at Fairchild Air Force Base, eventually becoming an equipment-maintenance foreman before retiring in 1980.

He died in Spokane in May 1996 and was buried at Fairmount Memorial Park. A cemetery monument dedicated in 2014 commemorates his service. His Medal of Honor records preserve the story of a reserve squad leader who stepped forward first to save wounded comrades and then to help the assault succeed.