WAALER, Reidar

US Army 27th Div 105th Machine Gun Battalion, Co A. Born in Norway. First World War: Enlisted from New York, New York. Sergeant. Awarded the Medal of Honor. Near Ronssoy, France, in the face of heavy artillery and machine gun fire, he crawled forward to a burning British tank in which some of the crew were imprisoned, and succeeded in rescuing two men. Although the tank was then burning fiercely and contained ammunition which was likely to explode at any time, this soldier returned to the tank and entering it made a search for the other occupants, remaining until he satisfied himself that there were no more living men in the tank. Sources: (“America’s Medal of Honor Recipients”. Publ. 1977, pp 466, 1021)