The village of Landres-et St. Georges is a typical farming villages in the North of France, an area also known as “The Argonne” for its dark forests. Here, near the borders of Belgium and Germany, well-maintained fields and orchards encircle ancient towns built of stone, and even today daily life is dictated by the seasons and the crops.
However, this otherwise nondescript locale has been witness to some of humanities mightiest armies and fiercest battles. Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Napoleon, and generations of other soldiers have all fought here.
In the fall of 1918, in the heart of World War I, history was again repeating itself.
The orchards had long been blasted to splinters, and the green fields had been carved into black trenches. Now both the Allies and the Kaiser’s forces were moving troops into the area in anticipation of some very large battles.
On October 14, 1918 The US Army’s Company I, 165th Infantry, 42d Division was moving position towards the village in preparation for a major advance. One of the men in I Company was a former boxing instructor from New York City by the name of Sergeant Michael Donaldson. According to the 42d’s official history, repeated gas attacks, very high casualties, and rumors of a coming armistice had all worn down the soldier’s morale. Things got so bad that the 42d’s very active and decisive Chief of Staff, Colonel Douglas Macarthur, had recently issued orders forbidding the use of colloquial terms in officer’s official reports such as “Company shredded to pieces”, and any talk of peace or an end to hostilities was strictly forbidden. Against this backdrop of despondency and desperation, I Company followed orders and headed down the road. As they approached Landres-et St. Georges, they turned off the road, and began ascending a hill to take up a position on the crest.
Unknown to them however, a detachment of Germans had already taken possession of the hilltop. The German troops were dug in with their usual tactical precision. Several machine guns had a commanding view of the road and interlocking fields of fire.
As the Americans approached the ridge, the Kaiser’s men unleashed the ambush. The Germans achieved total surprise and the assault was extremely effective. I Company was forced to hurriedly fall back to a safe position down the road to reorganize.
In the confusion I Company left six men wounded on the hill amongst the dead.
On his own initiative Sergeant Michael Donaldson, the former boxing instructor, now ran back through the ambush in plain sight of the enemy.
As the machine guns blazed down at him, he sprinted back up the hill to the first injured man. Grabbing his wounded comrade by the shirt collar, he dragged the soldier back down to safety as bullets kicked up everywhere around them.
Not content with just one incredible act of heroism, Sergeant Donaldson ran back up the hill five more times, each time in the face of withering enemy fire. Incredibly, he successfully rescued all six wounded men.
This was truly the Spirit of Michael in action. For his selfless and outstanding bravery Sergeant Michael Donaldson was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Medaille Militaire, France’s highest Military Award.
Michael would go on to live a long and happy life, counting several U.S. Presidents as friends. He was well-known and well-regarded around New York City as he always remained active in Veteran’s groups.
Here is a slice of Sergeant Michael Donaldson’s extraordinary life in his own words: http://army.togetherweserved.com/army/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=278620
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