John L. Barkley

Holding off counterattacks from a disabled tank

John Lewis Barkley was born on August 28, 1895, in Blairstown, Missouri. Inducted at Warrensburg in September 1917, he went overseas in April 1918. During World War I he served as a private first class in Company K, 4th Infantry, 3rd Division of the United States Army.

On October 7, 1918, near Cunel, France, Barkley occupied an observation post close to the German lines. On his own initiative he repaired a captured machine gun and installed it in a disabled French tank. When German troops counterattacked, he waited inside the tank until they drew level with his position, then opened fire and broke up the attack.

An enemy gun subsequently fired at the tank from close range, striking its drive wheel. Barkley stayed at his position and repelled a second counterattack, helping American troops gain and hold Hill 25. His conduct earned the Medal of Honor.

Barkley returned from overseas in August 1919. His memoir, No Hard Feelings, appeared in 1930 and was later republished as Scarlet Fields. A veteran active in the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, he helped establish the Shawnee Mission Park system and served as its superintendent. Barkley died on April 14, 1966, in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, and is buried at Forest Hills Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri. His medal is held by the National World War I Museum, preserving the story of his resourcefulness under fire.

Official Medal of Honor citation:

Pfc. Barkley, who was stationed in an observation post half a kilometer from the German line, on his own initiative repaired a captured enemy machine gun and mounted it in a disabled French tank near his post. Shortly afterward, when the enemy launched a counterattack against our forces, Pfc. Barkley got into the tank, waited under the hostile barrage until the enemy line was abreast of him and then opened fire, completely breaking up the counterattack and killing and wounding a large number of the enemy.

Five minutes later an enemy 77-millimeter gun opened fire on the tank point-blank. One shell struck the drive wheel of the tank, but this soldier nevertheless remained in the tank and after the barrage ceased broke up a second enemy counterattack, thereby enabling our forces to gain and hold Hill 25.