Samuel M. Sampler

Silencing machine guns near Saint-Étienne

Samuel Major Sampler earned the Medal of Honor near Saint-Étienne, France, on October 8, 1918. A corporal in Company H, 142nd Infantry Regiment, 36th Division, he acted after machine-gun fire halted his company and inflicted heavy casualties.

Sampler located the enemy guns on higher ground and advanced alone with captured German grenades. He silenced the position and caused 28 German soldiers to surrender, enabling his company to resume its advance.

Born in Decatur, Texas, on January 27, 1895, Sampler received his medal in Cheney, France, on May 2, 1919. He died in Fort Myers, Florida, on November 19, 1979, and is buried at Memorial Gardens Cemetery there.

Medal of Honor citation

His company, having suffered severe casualties during an advance under machine-gun fire, was finally stopped. Cpl. Sampler detected the position of the enemy machine guns on an elevation. Armed with German hand grenades, which he had picked up, he left the line and rushed forward in the face of heavy fire until he was near the hostile nest, where he grenaded the position. His third grenade landed among the enemy, killing two, silencing the machine guns, and causing the surrender of 28 Germans, whom he sent to the rear as prisoners. As a result of his act the company was immediately enabled to resume the advance.