Samuel Woodfill
Samuel Woodfill was one of three World War I veterans selected to act as Honorary Pallbearers at the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in 1921, joined by Alvin York and Charles Whittlesey. John J. Pershing said that Woodfill was, “…the greatest American soldier of the World War.” Woodfill was decorated by several of the nations which fought as Allies during the war, including the French, the Italians and Montenegrins, as well as receiving the Medal of Honor. Today, he is all but forgotten.
Woodfill enlisted in the United States Army in his hometown of Bryantsburg, Indiana in 1901, having already developed excellent marksmanship by hunting as he grew up. He served in several different posts prior to the First World War, gaining combat experience in the Philippines during the Philippine – American War. When the United States entered the First World War a shortage of experienced officers led to his being offered a temporary commission as an officer with the 60th Infantry Regiment, which was sent to France. By the end of summer 1918 the 60th was at the front in the Meuse-Argonne region, and took part in the Meuse-Argonne offensive.
An often forgotten aspect of the First World War was the use of mustard (and other) gas as a battlefield weapon. When the Meuse-Argonne offensive began both sides used poison gas. Woodfill and his unit advanced under fire from three machine gun emplacements. Woodfill directed his men to cover and assaulted the first of the three, engaging in hand to hand combat with a German officer after killing the machine gun crew. The second machine gun was then overrun by Woodfill and his men. When Woodfill rushed the final machine gun nest he ran out of ammunition when confronting the two man crew.
Woodfill used a pick lying near the nest, presumably left there after the emplacement was dug, and used it to kill both Germans. By that time he and his men were all but overcome from the mustard gas which blanketed the battlefield, made worse by the lack of wind to disperse the gas. Woodfill led his men back to the American lines before collapsing from the effects of the gas. It was Woodfill’s last combat of the war, he remained hospitalized for weeks following the action and never fully recovered his breathing capacity.
Woodfill retired from the Army in 1923, but in 1942 he and Alvin York were commissioned as Majors in the US Army, largely as a morale building gesture during the Second World War. Both men were designated to train new recruits and to help in War Bond drives. Woodfill retired permanently in 1944 following the death of his wife in 1942. After his death in 1951 he was interred near his Indiana farm, but in 1955 he was reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery.