Vice Admiral Joel Thompson Boone

Joel Thompson Boone was born in St. Clair, Pennsylvania, on August 29, 1889, graduated from Mercersburg Academy in 1909 and Hahnemann Medical College in 1913, served as assistant physician to Presidents Harding and Coolidge and physician to President Hoover in 1922-23, retired from active duty as a Vice Admiral in 1950, and served as Medical Director of the Veterans Administration from 1951-55. As a Lieutenant in the Navy Medical Corps serving with the Marines at Vierzy, France, on July 19, 1918, he received the Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism, conspicuous gallantry, and intrepidity while serving with the 6th Regiment, U.S. Marines, in actual conflict with the enemy. With absolute disregard for personal safety and mindful of the suffering fallen, Boone left the shelter of a ravine and went onto an open field without protection, and despite extreme enemy fire of all calibers through a heavy mist of gas, applied dressings and first aid to wounded Marines southeast of Vierzy, near the cemetery, and on the road south from the town. After his dressings and supplies were exhausted, he passed through a heavy barrage of large-caliber high-explosive and gas shells to replenish them, returned quickly with a sidecar load, and administered them to save the lives of the wounded, then made a second trip later that day under the same conditions and for the same purpose. He died in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 1974, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

St. Clair, Pennsylvania · United States