Medal of Honor
July 30, 1918
on the Oureq River, France
- Rank at action
- Sergeant
- Service
- U.S. Army
- Conflict
- World War I
- Unit or command
- Company D, 165th Infantry, 42d Division
- Presentation date
- December 31, 1921
The Citation
Sources ↓In advance of an assaulting line, he attacked a detachment of about 25 of the enemy. In the ensuing hand-to-hand encounter he sustained pistol wounds, but heroically continued in the advance, during which he received additional wounds: but, with great physical effort, he remained in active command of his detachment. Being again wounded, he was forced by weakness and loss of blood to be evacuated, but insisted upon being taken first to the battalion commander in order to transmit to him valuable information relative to enemy positions and the disposition of our men.
Sources & record notes
General Order comparison: pending. Current-profile review does not mean that the underlying original order has been examined.
- Richard William O'Neill — current Society profile ↗Congressional Medal of Honor Society · Checked 2026-08-26
current identity, service, action metadata, and citation comparison
Transcription, metadata & provenance notes
- Award ID
- MOH-AW-000333
- Transcription status
- Legacy full text · current reference profile matched
- Last source check
- 2026-08-26
- Recorded order reference (not verified against the original)
- 30
- Later or highest recorded rank
- First Lieutenant
- Entered service at
- New York, N.Y.
- Archive transcription SHA-256
- 65d66c478df60d0a3d6be478413d6a065585575bb565189d975358938ff789c3
Legacy transcription retained without substantive editing; current rendered profile variants documented in the Phase 10 evidence snapshot.
Sergeant is retained as the rank at action and First Lieutenant as the later/profile rank; the source-rendered Oureq River spelling is preserved.