Joel Thompson Boone

HE CROSSED SHELL-SWEPT FIELDS TO AID WOUNDED MEN UNDER FIRE.

Vice Admiral Joel Thompson Boone (1889–1974) was a U.S. Navy physician whose career carried him from frontline medicine with the Marines in France to senior leadership in military health care. Born in St. Clair, Pennsylvania, he attended Mercersburg Academy and graduated from Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia in 1913. He joined the Naval Reserve Medical Corps in 1914 and transferred to the regular Navy the following year. His early assignments included naval hospitals and medical training, as well as service with Marine forces in Haiti. After serving aboard USS Wyoming, he joined the 6th Marine Regiment and went to France in 1917, where he served as battalion and regimental surgeon and later as assistant division surgeon for the U.S. Army’s 2nd Division.

On 19 July 1918, during the fighting near Vierzy in the Aisne-Marne offensive, Boone repeatedly left the relative shelter of a ravine to treat wounded Marines lying in an exposed field. Enemy fire included machine guns, artillery and gas. When his dressings and medical supplies ran out, he made dangerous motorcycle trips through the barrage to obtain more, returning to continue treatment. The Medal of Honor citation describes his selfless work under fire and the way he repeatedly crossed the shell-swept ground to bring life-saving supplies to the wounded. His actions helped keep casualties alive during an intense battle and made him one of the few Navy medical officers to receive the nation’s highest award for valor.

Boone continued his medical service after the First World War, including work in the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and with the American Red Cross. He became the personal physician to Presidents Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover, serving Hoover at the White House after earlier work aboard the presidential yacht USS Mayflower. During the Second World War, Boone served as a fleet medical officer and was aboard USS Missouri for the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. He was also among the officers sent to help liberate Allied prisoners of war in Japan. He retired on 1 December 1950 and advanced to vice admiral. Subsequently, he led the Veterans Administration’s medical service as chief medical director from 1951 to 1955. He died on 2 April 1974 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His career spanned four decades and joined battlefield medicine with the development of a modern military medical system.

The Medal of Honor citation recognizes Boone’s extraordinary heroism near Vierzy: he crossed open ground under intense fire and through gas to dress the wounded, then made repeated trips through a heavy barrage to replenish supplies and continue treating them. The citation identifies his service with the 6th Regiment, U.S. Marines, on 19 July 1918.

Sources: Marine Corps University History Division, “Vice Admiral Joel Thompson Boone”; U.S. Army, “World War I Medal of Honor Recipients, Citations”; U.S. Department of Defense, “Medal of Honor Monday: Navy Vice Adm. Joel T. Boone”; Naval History and Heritage Command, “Navy Medical Corps Medal of Honor Recipients in World War I.”