William Grant Fournier (June 21, 1913 – January 13, 1943) was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

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 valor. ...

—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 opposin ...

Biography

Fournier was raised by his aunts and uncles in the town of

South Kingstown, Rhode Island South Kingstown is a town in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 31,931 at the 2020 census. South Kingstown is the second largest town in Rhode Island by total geographic area, behind New ...

and enlisted in the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

in 1931, at the age of 18, where he served for nearly a decade before retiring. Fournier re-enlisted in the military before the beginning of World War II, this time in the Army, from Winterport, Maine in September 1940,WWII Army Enlistment Records
/ref> and by January 10, 1943, was serving as a

Sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

in Company M, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. During a

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese attack on that day, at Mount Austen,

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

, in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

, 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 Lewis Hall may refer to: People * Lewis Hall (politician) (1860–1933), English-born dental surgeon and politician * Lewis Hall (soldier) (1895–1943), United States Army soldier * Lewis Hall (footballer) (born 2004), English association football ...

, stayed behind to man a

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

. Hall was killed at the gun, while Fournier was badly wounded and died three days later. Both men were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on June 5, 1943. Fournier, aged 29 at his death, was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

Medal of Honor citation

Sergeant Fournier's official Medal of Honor citation reads:

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.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fournier, William G. 1913 births 1943 deaths 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 Military personnel from Norwich, Connecticut People from Winterport, Maine Burials in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific People from South Kingstown, Rhode Island

Biography

Medal of Honor citation

See also

References