Forrest E. Peden (October 3, 1913 – February 3, 1945) was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...

—for his actions in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Biography

Peden joined the Army from

Wathena, Kansas Wathena is a city in Doniphan County, Kansas, United States, located about west of Saint Joseph, Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,246. History Wathena was founded in 1856. The city is named in honor of Chie ...

in February 1943,WWII Army Enlistment Records
/ref> and by February 3, 1945, was serving as a technician fifth grade in Battery C, 10th Field Artillery Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division. On that day, near

Biesheim Biesheim (; gsw-FR, Biese) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Archaeology Remains of a Mithraeum have been unearthed in Biesheim in 1977. See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin department The foll ...

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, his unit was ambushed by a larger enemy force. After giving medical aid to two wounded soldiers, Peden ran for help despite intense enemy fire. He found a friendly

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...

and guided it to the ambush site, but was killed when the tank was hit by hostile fire. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor a year later, on February 13, 1946. Aged 31 at his death, Peden was buried at Mount Olive Cemetery in Troy, Kansas.

Medal of Honor citation

Technician Peden's official Medal of Honor citation reads:

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peden, Forrest E. 1913 births 1945 deaths People from St. Joseph, Missouri United States Army personnel killed in World War II United States Army Medal of Honor recipients United States Army non-commissioned officers World War II recipients of the Medal of Honor People from Doniphan County, Kansas