Sgt. William Shemin’s Medal of Honor plaque joins the ranks with 23 other 4th Infantry Division Soldiers on the wall of honor in the division headquarters building Aug. 20, 2015. (Photo capture by Staff Sgt. Rob Oson)
By Scott Prater
Mountaineer staff
The 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson honored a hero by placing his Medal of Honor plaque on the division’s wall of honor Aug. 20, 2015.
Maj. Gen. Ryan F. Gonsalves, commanding general, 4th Inf. Div. and Fort Carson, honored Sgt. William Shemin, Company G, 2nd Battalion,
47th Infantry Regiment, 4th Inf. Div., by leading a ceremony where the plaque was officially placed on the wall at the 4th Inf. Div. Headquarters.
“Today is a humbling moment for the Army and the 4th Infantry Division as well as a proud moment for the Shemin Family as Sgt. Shemin’s Medal of Honor plaque takes its proper place on our wall of honor, among his 23 fellow heroes who were assigned or attached to the 4th Inf. Div.,” Gonsalves said during his ceremony address.
Shemin, a World War I veteran, had previously been overlooked for the nation’s highest military award for valor, but President Barack Obama presented the award posthumously June 2. Shemin’s daughter, Elsie Shemin-Roth, accepted the award on her father’s behalf.
“A couple of weeks ago, I had the great pleasure of speaking with Elsie Shemin-Roth who, despite her own 87 years, had every bit as much energy and spunk as I’m sure her father did so many years ago,” Gonsalves said in front of a packed auditorium. “In fact, I believe President Obama referred to her energy as a ‘platoon’s worth of Shemins.’ As I spoke with her, the pride and deference for her father’s service came loud and clear through the phone as she recounted her father’s story of heroism, service and his undying affinity for the 4th Infantry Division.”
From Aug. 7-9, 1918, during the Aisne-Marne
Offensive in France, Shemin distinguished himself by gallantry above and beyond the call of duty. His Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), citation reads:
“For extraordinary heroism in action on the Vesle River, near Bazoches, August 7, 8, 9, 1918. Sergeant Shemin, upon three different occasions, left (cover) and crossed an open space of 150 yards, exposed to heavy machine gun fire, to rescue the wounded. After officers and senior noncommissioned officers had become causalities,
Sergeant Shemin took command of the platoon and displayed great initiative under fire until wounded August 9.”
Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, in 1896, Shemin joined the Army in 1917. During World War I he was assigned as a rifleman in Company G, 47th Infantry Regiment, which moved from New York to North Carolina, becoming part of the 4th Division. The division was part of the American Expeditionary Forces in France.
The 47th Infantry Regiment was assigned to the 7th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. The regiment took part in four European campaigns during World War I with 40 of its members receiving the DSC.
After surviving the battle and actions for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor, Sergeant Shemin recovered from his shrapnel wounds and a bullet wound to his head and was discharged from the Army in 1919. He returned to the New York City area to live a proud but humble life that included starting a nursery business in the Bronx, attending Syracuse University and raising a family of three children.
“Despite such a full life, Sgt. Shemin was certainly not done serving,” Gonsalves said. “As President Obama noted in his White House speech on June 2nd, ‘when World War II came, William went and talked to the Army about signing up again … to his wife’s great relief, the
Army said that the best thing William could do for his country was to keep running his business and take care of his Family.’”