John Lewis Barkley

Private First Class, U.S. Army

Medal of Honor Recipient

World War I

Private First Class John Lewis Barkley (28 August 1895 - 14 April 1966) was a U.S. Army soldier who received the U.S. military's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, for his heroic actions during World War I.

John Lewis Barkley was born on 28 August 1895 and raised in Kansas City, MO. Barkley served as a Private First Class in Company K, 4th Infantry, 3rd Division. He earned the Medal of Honor by breaking up an enemy counterattack while fighting near Cunel, France, on 7 October 1918.

Medal of Honor

Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company K, 4th Infantry, 3rd Division.

Place and date: Near Cunel, France, 7 October 1918.

Citation: Pfc. Barkley, who was stationed in an observation post half a kilometer from the German line, on his own initiative repaired a captured enemy machinegun and mounted it in a disabled French tank near his post. Shortly afterward, when the enemy launched a counterattack against our forces, Pfc. Barkley got into the tank, waited under the hostile barrage until the enemy line was abreast of him and then opened fire, completely breaking up the counterattack and killing and wounding a large number of the enemy. Five minutes later an enemy 77-millimeter gun opened fire on the tank pointblank. One shell struck the drive wheel of the tank, but this soldier nevertheless remained in the tank and after the barrage ceased broke up a second enemy counterattack, thereby enabling our forces to gain and hold Hill 25.

Death and Burial

Private First Class John Lewis Barkley died on 14 April 1966. He is buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Kansas City, MO.