DOB/DOD: June 21, 1913 (Norwich, CT) – January 10, 1943; 29 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
ENLISTMENT: September 12, 1940, in Bangor, Maine.
SERVICE NUMBER: 11014123
FAMILY: Born to Alfred C. Sr. (1877-?) and Olive S. Gadrow Fournier (1874-1914). One brother, Alfred C. Jr. (1910-1939). Two half-brothers from his mother’s first marriage, Charles Michaud (1897-1948) and Ernest Michaud (1905-1987). One half-sister, Olive Michaud Drake (1900-1983).
While still a baby, William was adopted by Henry (1873-1954) and Amelia A. Pashley Gadrow (1886-1937). He was raised with Theodore J. (1899-1979), Lawrence H. (1910-1944), Harold D. (1918-1962), Mary M. Gadrow Barker (1898-1954), and Lillian V. Gadrow Harford (1925-1990).
OTHER: He also served in the Navy in the early 1930s under the name William Grant Gadrow.
Namesake of VFW Post 916, 155 High Street, Wakefield, Rhode Island.
Photos courtesy of FindAGrave.com. Navy on the left, Army on the right.
MEDAL OF HONOR CITATION
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS DURING: World War II
BRANCH OF SERVICE: Army
UNIT: Company M, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division
GENERAL ORDERS: War Department, General Orders No. 28 (June 5, 1943)
AGE ON THE DAY OF THE EVENT: 29
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pride in presenting the Medal of Honor (Posthumously) to Sergeant William Grant Fournier, United States Army, for gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty on 10 January 1943, while serving with Company M, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, in action at Mount Austen, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. As leader of a machinegun section charged with the protection of other battalion units, his group was attacked by a superior number of Japanese, his gunner killed, his assistant gunner wounded, and an adjoining guncrew put out of action. Ordered to withdraw from this hazardous position, Sergeant Fournier refused to retire but rushed forward to the idle gun and, with the aid of another soldier who joined him, held up the machine gun by the tripod to increase its field action. They opened fire and inflicted heavy casualties upon the enemy. While so engaged, both these gallant soldiers were killed, but their sturdy defensive was a decisive factor in the following success of the attacking battalion.
Presentation Date and Details: October 28, 1943, at Rhode Island State College, presented by Major General Sherman Miles, Commanding General of the First Service Command, to Sergeant Fournier’s foster father, Henry Gadrow of Wakefield, Rhode Island.
William Grant Fournier was born on June 21, 1913, to parents Olive Gadrow and Alfred Cyril Fournier in Norwich, Connecticut. Not much is known about his early life, as his mother passed away when he was roughly one year old on Christmas Day due to breast cancer.
According to his great-nephew, Fournier’s father was not present in his life. Sometime after his mother’s death, Fournier moved to live with his aunt, Amelia Pashley Gadrow, and uncle, Henry Gadrow. He grew up with his cousins around the town of South Kingstown. He attended grammar school until the eighth grade and eventually worked in a store installing radios. When he was 18, he moved to Maine to work as a hired hand and driver.
In 1931, Fournier enlisted in the U.S. Navy from Winterport, Maine. In 1937, his aunt and adopted mother passed away, and in 1939, his brother Alfred Cyril Fournier, Jr. died in an ice fishing accident. Just a year following the events, Fournier enlisted in the U.S. Army.
His great-nephew described him as a restless soul, someone who was trying to enjoy life and not take it too seriously during his travels in the Navy. Fournier served in the Navy for less than a decade, but he seemingly fell in love with the Pacific region. He eventually returned to Maine after leaving the Navy but did not stay there long.
In September 1940, Fournier re-enlisted, this time in the U.S. Army, with hopes to return to the Pacific. Sergeant Fournier was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division, 35th Infantry Regiment “The Cacti,” Company M, and was stationed at the Schofield Barracks, Oahu, Hawaii. Following the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941, the American island-hopping campaign was put in motion. The 25th Infantry Division was deployed to Guadalcanal to relieve the first Marine Division. The 35th Infantry Regiment would soon find themselves located on a ridge referred to as “Sea Horse” and were tasked with attacking a Japanese defensive line and setting up a line of their own.
This American line fell under Japanese attack on January 8, 1943, and on January 10, in an attempt to stop the Japanese from flanking the regiment, Sergeant Fournier and the rest of his patrol opened machine gun fire onto the attacking Japanese. The Japanese were on the verge of overrunning the patrol, and a retreat was called for due to almost everybody in the patrol being wounded by the attackers.
Sergeant Fournier and Technician Fifth Grade Lewis R. Hall, some of the only non-wounded men, did not withdraw and instead worked together to lift a machine gun, aim the muzzle, and operate the trigger. Their efforts killed 46 Japanese soldiers and broke the attack.
Technician Fifth Grade Lewis R. Hall was killed helping Sergeant Fournier hold the line, and Sergeant Fournier died three days later due to the wounds he received protecting his vulnerable brothers in arms. Sergeant Fournier was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge, Asiatic-Pacific Service Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. (nhdsilentheroes.org)
Sergeant Fournier’s Medal of Honor was presented posthumously at an award ceremony at the University of Rhode Island in 1943, and his family donated it to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 916 in Wakefield, which has as its namesake William G. Fournier.
From The Bangor Daily News May 27, 1943
Winterport Man Recommended For Posthumous Award
WINTERPORT, May 26 – Stephen D. Perkins of this town has received a letter from the commander of the regiment in which Sergeant William G. Fournier was serving in the South Pacific when he was killed in action, expressing the sympathy of the officers and men of his regiment, and stating that his commanding officer had recommended that Sergeant Fournier be awarded a citation for extraordinary heroism in combat.
Sergeant Fournier, a native of Rhode Island, was employed by Mr. Perkins here several years ago. He had no close relatives. He was sent to Hawaii soon after his enlistment in September 1940 and was at Pearl Harbor at the time of the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. He was killed in action on January 13, 1943.
The letter follows:
“My Dear Mr. Perkins:
“By this time, you have, no doubt, received official notification that your friend, William G. Fournier, was killed in action on January 13, 1943. I am writing this letter to offer you the sincere sympathy of myself and the officers and men of your friend’s regiment and to do what little I can to soften your grief.
“Your friend was killed in brave performance of duty against the enemy. I assure you that you can be proud in the knowledge that his actions were willing, loyal, and courageous in making the noblest sacrifice a man can give – his life for his country. For his act of unselfish bravery, I have recommended that he be awarded a citation for extraordinary heroism in combat.
“Only in a small way can this letter ease your sorrow. You can be certain, however, that your grief is shared by those of us who lived and worked and fought with your friend as fellow soldiers. This pledge we make to you – we shall do our best to make certain that his sacrifice was not in vain.
Sincerely yours:
Robert B. McClure
Colonel, 35th Infantry, Commanding
From The Providence Journal October 29, 1943, with thanks to Cassidy Santos in the Robert L. Carothers Library & Learning Commons at the University of Rhode Island.
MEDAL OF HONOR AWARDED TO SERGEANT WILLIAM FOURNIER POSTHUMOUSLY AT KINGSTON
Sergeant William G. Fournier, Wakefield leader of a machine gun section who was killed at Guadalcanal while inflicting such heavy casualties on superior forces of Japanese that the attack of his battalion later succeeded, was awarded posthumously the Congressional Medal of Honor at Rhode Island State College yesterday.
The 31-year-old soldier, whose manning of a machine gun after his regular gunner was killed and the assistant wounded, was termed “gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty,” brought the first award of the Congressional Medal of Honor to any Rhode Islander in this war.
Fourth to New Englander
It was the fourth such award to any New Englander in this war, and the ceremony, originally planned for Washington, was the first of its kind in New England in this war.
Major General Sherman Miles, the commanding general of the First Service Command for President Roosevelt and the War Department, pinned the medal on the coat of Sergeant Fournier’s foster father, Henry Gadrow, of Wakefield.
Other members of the family, Governor J. Howard McGrath, college officials, and ranking military officers were present against the impressive background furnished as 1000 troops of the Narragansett Bay Harbor Defenses and the Army Specialized Training Program unit at Kingston stood at attention on the wind-swept athletic field. All classes at the college were suspended, and more than 500 students and former neighbors of the gallant soldier were in the stands.
Major Winthrop Reads Citation
As the citation, which told the story of Fournier’s heroic last minutes, in which he disregarded all orders to retire, was read by Major Fred Winthrop, an aide to General Miles, the foster father stood proudly erect, looking straight ahead, except when his glance strayed to the wind-whipped flag.
The citation said Sergeant Fournier died last January 10 at Mount Austen, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, where “as a leader of a machine gun section, charged with the protection of other battalion units. His group was attacked by a superior number of Japanese. His gunner was killed, his assistant gunner was wounded, and an adjoining gun crew was put out of action. Ordered to withdraw from this hazardous position, Sergeant Fournier refused to retire but rushed forward to the idle gun and, with the aid of another soldier who joined him, held up the machine gun by the tripod to increase its field action.
Both Soldiers Killed
“They opened fire and inflicted heavy casualties upon the enemy. While so engaged, both these gallant soldiers were killed, but their sturdy defensive was a decisive factor in the following success of the attacking battalion.” The citation was signed by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson.
Battalions from Fort Greene, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Francis Spry and headed by the 243rd Coast Artillery Band, marched onto the field shortly after 2 o’clock and after the official party was seated. Colonel Spry presented the troops to General Miles. Six hundred soldiers in the ASTP unit at State College were massed in battalion formation behind the reviewing party.
After the presentation of troops by the commanding officer, General Miles, Brigadier General Thomas E. Trolland, commanding officer of the Fifth District, comprising the State of Rhode Island; Governor McGrath; Major George W. Gage, commandant at State College; Dr. Harold W. Browning, vice president of the college, representing Dr. Carl R. Woodward, president. who is in Chicago attending a national conference of the American Association of Land Grant Colleges, and other Army officers trooped the line.
Presentation of Award
This formality was followed by the presentation of the award to Mr. Gadrow. After the reading of the citation, arms were presented, and the band played the National Anthem. Then General Miles stepped out of the line to pin the medal upon Mr. Gadrow.
Members of the family who were the honored guests, besides Mr. Gadrow, were his wife, Mrs. Hulda I. Gadrow; a daughter, Mrs. Lillian N. Harford; a half-sister of Sergeant Fournier, Mrs. Clarice Drake; two half-brothers, Ernest Michaud, and Charles Michaud; a sister of Mr. Gadrow, Mrs. Agnes Holloway, and a brother, Levi Gadrow.
Others In the reviewing stand were Adjutant General Peter L. Cannon of the State of Rhode Island; Lieutenant Colonel Morton Smith, chief of the ASTP division of the First Service Command; Major Robert C Beckett. of the college ASTP; Captain Carl F. Haussler of the staff of General Trolland; Captain Margaret V. Knox, of the WAC, attached to General Trolland’s staff; Staff Sergeants Frederick W. Guinness and John P. McConnon, and Rev. Leo P. McKenna, assistant pastor of St. Francis Church, Wakefield.
Initially buried in the Guadalcanal Cemetery. Repatriated and buried on January 28, 1949, in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) 2177 Puowaina Drive, Honolulu, Hawaii; Section C, Grave 462. Photo courtesy of FindAGrave.com.
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