Medal of Honor Recipient Sergeant Alan Eggers
Quick answer: Who was Alan Eggers?
Alan Eggers was a sergeant in the Machine Gun Company, 107th Infantry, 27th Division, who on September 29, 1918, during the assault on the Hindenburg Line near Le Catelet, France, left cover with two comrades to rescue the crew of a disabled American tank under heavy fire. He received the Medal of Honor and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
One of the leaders John visits on walking tours of Arlington National Cemetery is Sergeant Alan Eggers. Walk along Roosevelt Drive past Section 2, look up and to your right, and you'll see his headstone. Born in Saranac Lake, New York, in 1895, Eggers was studying at Cornell when he left to serve with the New York National Guard in the World War. He was in the Machine Gun Company, 107th Infantry, 27th Division. On September 29, 1918, his unit joined the assault on the Hindenburg Line at the St. Quentin Canal tunnel near Le Catelet, France, and things went wrong from the start. His Medal of Honor citation describes what happened next. Separated from their platoon by a smoke barrage, Eggers, Sergeant John C. Latham, and Corporal Thomas E. O'Shea took cover in a shell hole well inside German lines. They heard a call for help from an American tank disabled 30 yards away and went to it under heavy machine-gun and trench mortar fire. O'Shea was mortally wounded crossing the open ground. Eggers and Latham reached the tank, rescued a wounded officer, helped two wounded soldiers to cover, took a machine gun from the tank, and held off the enemy until dark, when they brought the wounded back to American lines. After the war, Eggers finished Cornell Law School in 1921, married in 1935, raised two sons, and worked on Wall Street until 1959. He died in 1968. That same day, Michael Valente, an Italian immigrant in the 107th, also earned the Medal of Honor. Four Medals of Honor to one regiment on one day.
Why it matters for leaders: Three men left the safety of a shell hole because someone called for help, and only two made it back.
Q: What unit was Eggers in?
A: The Machine Gun Company, 107th Infantry, 27th Division, a New York National Guard division.
Q: Who else in the 107th received the Medal of Honor for September 29, 1918?
A: Sgt. John C. Latham, Cpl. Thomas E. O'Shea (posthumously), and Pvt. Michael Valente.
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By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation