William Grant Fournier

At Guadalcanal, he held a machine gun against the attackers.

William Grant Fournier was born on 21 June 1913 in Norwich, Connecticut. After earlier service in the U.S. Navy, he joined the U.S. Army in 1940. The 35th Infantry Regiment was then assigned to the Hawaiian Division and became part of the 25th Infantry Division on 1 October 1941. By January 1943, Sergeant Fournier led a machine-gun section in Company M on Guadalcanal.

On 10 January, during operations near Mount Austen and the Sea Horse, a superior Japanese force attacked his position. His gunner was killed, his assistant gunner wounded, and another crew disabled. Ordered to withdraw, Fournier stayed. With Technician Fifth Grade Lewis R. Hall, he brought an idle machine gun into action and held it by the tripod to widen its field of fire. Their fire inflicted heavy casualties and helped the attacking battalion succeed. Both men received the Medal of Honor posthumously under War Department General Orders No. 28 of 5 June 1943.

Fournier also received the Purple Heart. His service qualified him for the American Defense Service Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal. The 35th Infantry Regiment received a Presidential Unit Citation for its Guadalcanal service, recorded separately as a unit award.

The official citation describes both men as killed in the 10 January action. Later cemetery and family-supported research gives Fournier's death as 13 January 1943 from his wounds. He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Section C, Grave 462.

Medal of Honor citation

For gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. As leader of a machine-gun section charged with the protection of other battalion units, his group was attacked by a superior number of Japanese, his gunner killed, his assistant gunner wounded, and an adjoining guncrew put out of action. Ordered to withdraw from this hazardous position, Sgt. Fournier refused to retire but rushed forward to the idle gun and, with the aid of another soldier who joined him, held up the machine gun by the tripod to increase its field of action. They opened fire and inflicted heavy casualties upon the enemy. While so engaged both these gallant soldiers were killed, but their sturdy defensive action was a decisive factor in the following success of the attacking battalion.