Serving as a soldier in the U.S. Army, Private First Class Michael J. Perkins was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his actions on October 27, 1918 in Belieu Bois, France during World War I. At the time he was serving with Company D, 101st Infantry, 26th Division. Perkins was about 19 years old.
Perkins was born in 1899 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Perkins died on October 28, 1918 in France, at the age of about 19. He is buried at New Calvary Cemetery in Mattapan, Massachusetts.
Perkins is one of 132 Medal of Honor recipients from World War I and one of 265 credited to Massachusetts.
Official Medal of Honor citation
He, voluntarily and alone, crawled to a German "pill box" machine-gun emplacement, from which grenades were being thrown at his platoon. Awaiting his opportunity, when the door was again opened and another grenade thrown, he threw a bomb inside, bursting the door open, and then, drawing his trench knife, rushed into the emplacement. In a hand-to-hand struggle he killed or wounded several of the occupants and captured about 25 prisoners, at the same time silencing seven machine guns.
Citation text: U.S. Government, public domain.
Wounds and injuries
What the citation records about his wounds:
In a hand-to-hand struggle he killed or wounded several of the occupants and captured about 25 prisoners, at the same time silencing seven machine guns.
- Awarded posthumously — died October 28, 1918.
- Age at death: about 19
- Resting place: New Calvary Cemetery
Timeline
- 1899Born in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
- October 27, 1918Act of valor — Belieu Bois, FranceAge about 19. Company D, 101st Infantry, 26th Division
- October 28, 1918Died in FranceAge about 19.
- Resting placeNew Calvary CemeteryMattapan, Massachusetts
