William G. Fournier
Sergeant, U.S. Army
Medal of Honor Recipient
World War II

Sergeant William Grant Fournier (21 June 1913 - 13 January 1943) was a U.S. Army soldier who was posthumously awarded the U.S. military's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, for his heroic actions during World War II.

William G. Fournier was born on 21 June 1913 in Norwich, CT. He joined the Army at Winterport, ME. On 10 January 1943, he was serving as a Sergeant in Company M, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. During a Japanese attack that day at Mount Austen, Guadalcanal, in the Solomon Islands, he refused an order to withdraw after many men in his unit had been killed or wounded and, with fellow soldier Technician Fifth Grade Lewis Hall, stayed behind to man a machine gun. Hall was killed while manning the machine gun; Fournier was badly wounded and died three days later. Both men were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for their great sacrifice.

Medal of Honor

Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company M, 35th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division.

Place and date: Mount Austen, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, 10 January 1943.

Citation: For gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. As leader of a machinegun 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 machinegun by the tripod to increase its field action. They opened fire and inflicted heavy casualties upon the enemy. While so engaged both these gallant soldiers were killed, but their sturdy defensive was a decisive factor in the following success of the attacking battalion.

Death and Burial

On 13 January 1943, Sergeant William G. Fournier died of his wounds incurred in action on 10 January. He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, HI, in Section C, Grave 462.