Ken Harbaugh tells the stories of service members who have distinguished themselves through an act of valor. These stories feature recipients from the Civil War to present day, including a few who were originally overlooked for the medal.
When his unit’s entire leadership was wiped out during the Argonne offensive, Capt Chiles took command of his battalion, advancing through a creek against heavy fire. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for commanding his unit despite a mortal wound from a sniper, refusing to leave until the unit was in good hands.
Welcome to the Medal of Honor podcast, brought to you in partnership with the National Medal of Honor Museum. I’m Ken Harbaugh. In each episode, we’ll learn about a different service member who has distinguished him or herself through an act of valor.
Captain Marcellus Holmes Chiles was born on February 5th, 1895 in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army during college, and became part of the American Expeditionary Force, or AEF, that deployed to Europe in 1918 after the U.S. officially joined World War I.
Later that year, Chiles fought in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, the first American offensive of the war, and the Meuse-Argonne offensive, one of the largest battles in American history.
During the Meuse-Argonne offensive, on November 3rd, 1918, Chiles and his regiment were moving towards German positions near the village of Le Champy-Bas. As they approached, enemy machine gun fire killed all of his unit’s leadership, including the battalion commander. Assuming command, Chiles led his soldiers through a waist-high stream towards the enemy positions despite heavy fire. When they reached the far side, he was wounded in the stomach by a sniper. Chiles refused to be evacuated until the handover of command to the next senior officer was complete. He was then taken to a hospital, where he died on November 5th. A week later, an armistice was declared and World War I ended.
On January 7th, 1919, Chiles was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second highest award, for his actions during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. However, his parents were not notified of his death until January 24th. On April 15th 1919, his award was upgraded to the Medal of Honor.
Chiles was buried at the Meuse-Argonne Military Cemetery in Romagne, France. His sacrifice is memorialized by American Legion Post 41 in Colorado and in a monument on the state capitol in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The Medal of Honor Podcast is a production of Evergreen Podcasts.
Nathan Corson is our producer and engineer, León Pescador is our script writer, Declan Rohrs is our script editor and recording engineer, and I’m Ken Harbaugh.
We are proud to support the National Medal of Honor Museum. To learn more, and to support their mission, got to mohmuseum.org. Thanks for listening.
