b. 07/11/1890 Gordonville, Missouri. d. 04/02/1958 Mountain Grove, Missouri.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 24/09/1911 Mundang, Philippines.
Fred H McGuire MOH
Fred joined the Navy at age 19 in 1909. Following basic training he was advanced to the Rank of Seaman, Hospital Apprentice and Chief Pharmacist’s Mate. He was assigned to the gunboat U.S.S. Pampanga, a captured Spanish gunboat which was outfitted in 1899 as a U.S. Naval Vessel.
For a time the Pampanga served as a patrol boat in the service of the army, near Corregidor Island, but was returned to the Navy in late 1910. When the Pampanga was re-commissioned in April of 1911, twenty year old Fred Henry McGuire was aboard, a member of a crew assigned to patrol duty off the coast of Basilan Island in the southern Philippines. Their assignment was to suppress a growing resistance to the American presence in the 7000 island Philippine archipelago.
In November 1939, McGuire retired from the Navy. During World War II, he was recalled to active duty and served in the Hospital Corps Division at Bureau of Medicine, Washington, D.C. In October 1945, he was again placed on the retired list.
MOH CITATION:
While attached to the U.S.S. Pampang, McGuire was one of a shore party moving in to capture Mundang, on the island of Basilan, P.I., 24 September 1911. Ordered to take station within 100 yards of a group of nipa huts close to the trail, McGuire advanced and stood guard as the leader and his scout party first searched the surrounding deep grasses, then moved into the open area before the huts. Instantly enemy Moros opened point-blank fire on the exposed men, and approximately 20 Moros charged the small group from inside the huts and from other concealed positions. McGuire, responding to the calls for help, was one of the first on the scene. After emptying his rifle into the attackers, he closed in with rifle, using it as a club to wage fierce battle until his comrades arrived on the field, when he rallied to the aid of his dying leader and other wounded. Although himself wounded, McGuire ministered tirelessly and efficiently to those who had been struck down, thereby saving the lives of two who otherwise might have succumbed to enemy-inflicted wounds.
BURIAL LOCATION: SPRINGFIELD NATIONAL CEMETERY, SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI.
SECTION 29, GRAVE 332.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: BELIEVED TO BE FAMILY.
