War brings out the best and worst in its participants. One seldom knows what qualities one brings onto the battlefield until a situation arises when that service person has to make a fateful choice. In the case of William Shemin, World War I presented more than one call beyond duty.
Born on Oct. 14, 1896, to Russian Jewish immigrants in Bayonne, New Jersey, Shemin played semi-professional baseball while attending the New York State Ranger School, graduating in 1914. His ambitions to take up forestry had to be postponed, however, when America declared war against Germany on April 6, 1917. Shemin enlisted on Oct. 2, and after training at Camp Greene, North Carolina, he shipped out for France, where he was assigned to G Company, 2nd Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment, 4th Division, American Expeditionary Forces.
On Aug. 3, 1918, the Second Battle of the Marne took a turn in which the last German offensive on the Western Front was thrown back and the Allies were taking the initiative. In the area of Bazoches-sur-Vesle, the 4th Division relieved the battered 42nd Division and was joined by the 32nd Division in keeping up the pressure on the retreating Germans.
Shemin had advanced to the rank of sergeant when G Company was among the 4th Division units to secure Bazoches on Aug. 7. The Vesle River was swollen, however, and the Germans took advantage of that to hold their ground, using machine gun nests and occasionally mustard gas.
Amid the fighting, Shemin saw a soldier cut down 150 yards from the nearest cover. As his citation notes, Shemin “left cover and crossed an open space … exposed to heavy machine-gun fire” to rescue the wounded man. The following day, Shemin saw another soldier go down and again exposed himself to intense enemy gunfire to rescue him.
Shemin saved yet another wounded man, but by that time G Company had taken such heavy attrition on its commissioned and senior noncommissioned officers that Shemin found himself the highest-ranking troop left. As his citation continues, Shemin promptly took charge and “displayed great initiative under fire” until wounded on Aug. 9.
With the enemy still holding and his company badly mauled, Shemin organized and led a fighting withdrawal until he was struck by shrapnel and a machine gun round entered his helmet and lodged beside his left ear. While U.S. troops were left holding onto the north bank of the Vesle, the 4th Division had suffered heavy casualties and on Aug. 11 to 12, its place was taken by the 77th Division.
Shemin spent three months recovering in the hospital and spent his time thereafter on light duty until the armistice of Nov. 11 and his honorable discharge in August 1919.
During that time, members of his division considered recommending him for the Medal of Honor. One officer, Capt. Rupert Purdon, testified, “With the most utter disregard for his own safety, he sprang from his position in his platoon trench, dashed out across the open in full sight of the Germans, who opened and maintained a furious burst of machine gun and rifle fire.”
Their efforts, however, were rejected by higher-ups who argued that there was no place in the U.S. Army for a Jewish Medal of Honor recipient (in spite of at least five such recipients during the Civil War). Six of Shemin’s comrades then wrote him up for second best, the Distinguished Service Cross, which he received on Dec. 19, 1919.
Shemin’s comment on the matter was: “War is not about medals. I love my country. I love my men. That’s all that counts.”
Returning to civilian life, Shemin earned a degree in forestry from the New York College at Syracuse University. From there he established a greenhouse and a landscaping business in Brooklyn, New York. He died in Syracuse on Aug. 15, 1973, and was buried in Baron Hirsch Cemetery in Staten Island.
Besides three children, Shemin left behind numerous supporters who kept up the appeal for an upgrade. On June 2, 2015, his daughter, Elsie Shemin-Roth stood before President Barack Obama in the White House to receive his Medal of Honor — almost 100 years after Shemin’s actions.
Read the full article here
