Louis Wardlaw Miles

He led his company from a stretcher despite grievous wounds.

Louis Wardlaw Miles was born in Baltimore on 23 March 1873. He studied at Johns Hopkins University, trained in medicine at the University of Maryland and later completed a doctorate in English. Teaching became his main career. By 1917 he was an assistant professor at Princeton, married and the father of three children.

Although already forty-four, he sought active service after the United States entered the First World War. He trained with Princeton's military program, attended an officer training camp and received a commission. He went to France with the 308th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division, and became a captain.

On 14 September 1918 he volunteered to lead Company M against an enemy trench near Revillon, close to the Aisne Canal. Earlier attacks had failed. Without supporting artillery, he moved ahead of his first wave to help cut the German wire. Machine-gun bullets struck him five times, breaking both legs and an arm.

Rather than leave the attack, he ordered his men to carry him forward. Once in the captured trench, he continued directing and encouraging the company from a stretcher. The troops held the position and consolidated it during a two-hour action. He was finally carried to an aid station against his wishes. One leg later had to be amputated.

His Distinguished Service Cross was upgraded to the Medal of Honor. After the war he returned to education, serving as a school headmaster in Baltimore and later teaching at Johns Hopkins. He wrote a history of the 308th Infantry, published in 1927, and eventually became professor emeritus. One of his sons died in the Pacific during the Second World War. Miles died in Baltimore in June 1944 and was buried in Green Mount Cemetery.

Official Medal of Honor citation

Volunteered to lead his company in a hazardous attack on a commanding trench position near the Aisne Canal, which other troops had previously attempted to take without success. His company immediately met with intense machine-gun fire, against which it had no artillery assistance, but Capt. Miles preceded the first wave and assisted in cutting a passage through the enemy's wire entanglements. In so doing he was wounded five times by machine-gun bullets, both legs and one arm being fractured, whereupon he ordered himself placed on a stretcher and had himself carried forward to the enemy trench in order that he might encourage and direct his company, which by this time had suffered numerous casualties. Under the inspiration of this officer's indomitable spirit his men held the hostile position and consolidated the front line after an action lasting two hours, at the conclusion of which Capt. Miles was carried to the aid station against his will.