John J. Kelly
Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient (1898-1957)
John Joseph Kelly (June 24, 1898 – November 20, 1957) was a United States Marine who was awarded both the Army and Navy Medals of Honor for his heroic actions on October 13, 1918, at the Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge, France, during World War I. He was the last surviving of 19 two-time Medal of Honor recipients when he died, although he received both awards for the same action.
Biography
Kelly was born in Chicago, Illinois on June 24, 1898. He enlisted as a private in the United States Marine Corps on May 15, 1917, in Port Royal, South Carolina. On September 5, 1917, he joined the 7th Company, 6th Regiment, at Quantico, Virginia, and on September 12, 1917, he was transferred to the 78th Company. On January 19, 1918, his regiment embarked from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the USS Henderson and arrived at St. Nazaire, France on February 5, 1918.
Private Kelly participated in engagements at Château-Thierry, St. Mihiel, Blanc Mont and the Meuse-Argonne offensive. In the desperate fighting at Blanc Mont Ridge, he ran "100 yards in advance of the front line and attacked an enemy machine-gun nest", for which he was awarded both the Army and Navy Medals of Honor.
He also participated in the march to the Rhine River and in the occupation of the Koblenz Bridgehead, from November 17, to December 12, 1918.
The public source identifies “John J. Kelly” as marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient (1898-1957). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around John, Kelly and Marine.
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This entry incorporates text from “John J. Kelly” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.