12. Thomas Hall and the Fort Mill (South Carolina) National Guard
Thomas Hall served with the Fort Mill National Guard along the Mexican border before the unit was transferred to France in the spring of 1918. The unit was moved to the front lines when the American Expeditionary Force fully deployed, and in the late summer and autumn of 1918 they were heavily engaged with German forces along the Hindenberg Line, a series of fortified positions established to blunt the Allies’ thrust towards Germany. The war, which had been stalled in trench warfare since 1915, became fluid again as the Allies moved forward. Casualties among the Americans mounted. On October 8, 1918, Hall’s company numbered 185 men fit for combat when the day began. By its end only 37 men remained unwounded or otherwise uninjured. One of the Americans who did not survive the heavy combat of that day was Thomas Hall.
Hall was a sergeant in charge of a squad that day, when they encountered a series of entrenched German heavy machine gun positions. Each encounter led to Hall approaching the German position alone, subjecting himself to danger rather than sending the squad forward. In this manner Hall silenced several German positions before being struck by machine gun fire. Prior to his receiving his mortal wounds he eliminated one machine gun nest, occupied by five German soldiers, using nothing but his bayonet. For his actions on October 8, 1918, just over one month before the fighting ended, Hall was awarded the Medal of Honor. Hall was one of the 96 American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who were awarded the Medal of Honor during the First World War.