WWI · Battle Death Record
William Sawelson
Sergeant, U.S. Army · New Jersey
Medal of Honor
Personnel File — Core Information
- Name
- William Sawelson
- Entered the Service From
- New Jersey
- Rank
- Sergeant
- Service
- U.S. Army
- Unit / Regiment
- Company M, 312th Infantry Regiment, 78th Division
- War
- WWI
- Date of Death
- October 26, 1918
- Awards
- Medal of Honor
- Burial / Memorial
- Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France
- Grave
- Plot C, Row 9, Grave 33
Their story
On October 26, 1918, near Grand-Pre, France, Sergeant Sawelson heard a wounded man in a nearby shell hole calling for water, and left shelter to crawl through heavy machine gun fire to give the man water from his own canteen. He then started back to his own shell hole to obtain more water for the wounded soldier but was killed by a machine gun bullet while returning. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
Compiled from American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) and National Archives (NARA) records and public sources.
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