John Henry Balch

Commander John Henry Balch, Medal of Honor

John Henry Balch was born on 2 January 1896 in Edgerton, Kansas. Before the United States entered the First World War, he attended Kansas State University, but in May 1917 he enlisted in the United States Navy. Trained as a medical sailor, he became a Pharmacist’s Mate First Class and was assigned to serve with the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, part of the American Expeditionary Force in France.

Balch was not an infantryman in the usual sense. His weapon was his medical kit, and his duty was to reach the wounded where they fell. During the brutal fighting of 1918, he repeatedly placed himself in the open under machine-gun, rifle, and artillery fire to treat and rescue wounded Marines.

His courage was first demonstrated at Belleau Wood, where he was wounded while evacuating casualties. He continued to build a reputation as one of the most fearless medical men in the Marine fighting line.

On 19 July 1918 at Vierzy, France, Balch performed the actions for which he would later receive the Medal of Honor. While the attack raged around him, he left shelter again and again to reach wounded men. He worked under intense fire for hours, treating casualties and helping remove them from danger. His citation records that he continued this work for sixteen hours, exposing himself constantly to enemy fire.

He showed the same extraordinary devotion again on 5 October 1918 at Somme-Py, where he established and operated an advanced dressing station under heavy shellfire. In both actions, Balch’s courage was not a single dramatic charge, but the repeated bravery of a medical sailor who kept going forward so that others might live.

For his actions at Vierzy and Somme-Py, Pharmacist’s Mate First Class John Henry Balch was awarded the Medal of Honor. He also received the Distinguished Service Cross for repeated extraordinary heroism at Belleau Wood, Vierzy, and St. Étienne-à-Arnes, and was credited with three Silver Stars for gallantry. His other awards included the Purple Heart, the French Croix de Guerre with Fourragère, the Italian War Merit Cross, and the Portuguese War Cross.

After the First World War, Balch was discharged from active service in 1919. He later returned to naval service during the Second World War, rejoining the United States Naval Reserve in September 1942 as a lieutenant. He served in the United States, Australia, and the Philippines, and ultimately retired from the Naval Reserve on 1 June 1950 with the rank of Commander.

Although some secondary listings may show him as “Captain,” the safer verified rank for this profile is Commander, United States Naval Reserve. His Medal of Honor action rank should be shown separately as Pharmacist’s Mate First Class, United States Navy.

Commander John Henry Balch died on 15 October 1980 and is buried at Riverside National Cemetery in California. In 2005, the naval health clinic at Quantico, Virginia, was renamed in his honour.

John Henry Balch stands among the great medical heroes of the First World War. His courage was the courage of the corpsman: to move toward the wounded when others had to take cover, and to keep working under fire until the living had a chance to survive.