b. 03/03/1888 Windermere, Cumbria, England. d. 02/11/1975 Stanford, Connecticut.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 29/09/1918 near Le Catelet, France.
John C Latham MOH
Born on March 3, 1888, in Windermere, England, Latham immigrated to the United States and joined the Army from Rutherford, New Jersey. By September 29, 1918, he was serving as a sergeant in Machine Gun Company, 107th Infantry Regiment, 27th Division. On that day, near Le Catelet in northeastern France, he and two other soldiers, Sergeant Alan L. Eggers and Corporal Thomas E. O’Shea, left cover to rescue the crew of a disabled American tank. O’Shea was killed in the process, but Latham and Eggers successfully defended the wounded tank crewmen from German fire all day and carried them to the safety of the Allied lines after nightfall. For this action, all three soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor the next year.
He received his Medal of Honor on February 4, 1919 at Chaumont, France from General John J. Pershing.
MOH CITATION:
Becoming separated from their platoon by a smoke barrage, Sgt. Latham, Sgt. Alan L. Eggers, and Cpl. Thomas E. O’shea took cover in a shellhole well within the enemy lines. Upon hearing a call for help from an American tank which had became disabled 30 yards from them, the three soldiers left their shelter and started toward the tank under heavy fire from German machine guns and trench mortars. In crossing the fire-swept area, Cpl. O’Shea was mortally wounded, but his companions, undeterred, proceeded to the tank, rescued a wounded officer, and assisted two wounded soldiers to cover in the sap of a trench nearby. Sgts. Latham and Eggers then returned to the tank in the face of violent fire, dismounted a Hotchkiss gun, and took it back where the wounded men were, keeping off the enemy all day by effective use of the gun, and later bringing it with the wounded men back to our lines under cover of darkness.
BURIAL LOCATION: ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA.
SECTION 35, GRAVE 1127.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: BELIEVED TO BE FAMILY.
