William Bradford Turner

William Bradford Turner (February 28, 1892 – September 27, 1918) was a United States Army officer who received the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in World War I.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Turner lived in Garden City, New York, and attended St. Paul's School there for one year. He was a graduate of Williams College, class of 1914, where he played football, basketball, and baseball. Turner is a direct descendant of the Europeans who settled New England in the early 1600s, including Massachusetts Governor William Bradford, and Dorothy Quincy, the wife of John Hancock.

By September 27, 1918, he was serving in France as a first lieutenant with the 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Division. During an attack on that night, near Ronssoy, he and a small group of others became separated from the rest of their company. Turner led the group forward despite intense artillery and machine gun fire, several times personally attacking machine gun positions which were firing on his men. Although wounded three times, he continued to lead the group forward, capturing and clearing three lines of trenches. After reaching their objective, a fourth line of trenches, Turner was killed while defending the position from a German counter-attack. For these actions, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor the next year, in 1919.

1st rowMedal of HonorMexican Border Service Medal2nd rowWorld War I Victory Medal w/one silver service star to denote credit for the Somme Offensive, Ypres-Lys, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Defensive Sector battle clasps.Croce al Merito di Guerra (Italy)Medalha da Cruz de Guerra, Third Class (Portuguese Republic)