George Dilboy George Dilboy ( Greek transliteration of Americanized name : Γεώργιος Διλβόης ) , ( February 5 , 1896 – July 18 , 1918 ) , Private First Class , U . S . Army , Company H , 103d Infantry , 26th Division is thought to be the first Greek - American to receive the Medal of Honor during World War I , for leading an attack on a machinegun position and continuing to fire at the enemy despite being seriously wounded , killing two of the enemy and dispersing the remainder of the gun crew . General John Pershing listed George Dilboy as one of the 10 greatest heroes of the war . Dilboy is buried in Section 18 of Arlington National Cemetery . The Dilboy Field and its Dilboy Stadium in Somerville , Massachusetts were named after him , as was Somerville ' s Dilboy Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars . The Dilboy post is VFW Post # 529 and is located at 371 Summer Street . There is a monument and bust honoring Dilboy in front of Somerville ' s City Hall . Biography . Born in the Greek settlement of Alatsata , in Ottoman Turkey in Asia Minor , near İzmir , the Belleau Wood hero astounded Germans by singlehandedly attacking The Wood which was infested with machine gun nests , and wiping out three guns before the Germans fled . Equally astonished were his fellow Doughboys of World War I . Dilboy ' s early years were spent living in a region of the world where dangerous feuding between Ottoman Turks and Greeks was an ongoing event for nearly 400 years . His father emigrated to America in 1908 , and later George in 1910 , and settled first in Somerville , Massachusetts . But Dilboy returned to mainland Greece in 1909 where he volunteered to fight in the Greek Army in Thessaly during the First Balkan War of 1912 . He remained there to successfully fight in Macedonia in the Second Balkan War of 1913 . Returning to Somerville , he went to school and worked for a few years before volunteering to fight in the U . S . Army in the Mexican Border War in 1916 - 1917 , he entered service at Keene , New Hampshire . He obtained an honorable discharge , but within months thereafter , re - joined the US Army to fight in France during World War I , where he was killed in 1918 at age 22 . Posthumous events , memorials , and legacy . At the request of his father , Antonios , Dilboy was buried at his birthplace Alatsata , which was at that time a predominantly Greek city . After a funeral procession through the streets of his birthplace — said to have been witnessed by 17 , 000 mourners — his flag - draped casket was placed in the Greek Orthodox Church of the Presentation in Alatsata to lie in state before the high altar . But rampaging Turkish soldiers soon seized the town and during the three - year Greco - Turkish War of 1919 - 1922 , Turkish troops recaptured Smyrna from the Greeks . The church was ransacked and Dilboy ' s grave desecrated . The American flag was stolen from atop Dilboy ' s coffin . The coffin was overturned , after which — according to an account by Bishop John Kallos — the bones of the Greek - American war hero were scattered by the marauding attackers . President Warren G . Harding was outraged and sent the warship to Turkey in September 1922 to recover the bodily remains . Harding also demanded and received a formal apology from the Turkish government . Dilboy ' s remains were collected and a Turkish guard of honor delivered his casket ( draped once again in an American flag ) to an American landing party in Smyrna . His remains were taken aboard the " USS Litchfield " and returned to the United States . On November 12 , 1923 , he was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery , where his gravestone proclaims his Medal of Honor status . Dilboy had the distinction of being honored by three U . S . Presidents , Woodrow Wilson , who signed the authorization awarding the Medal of Honor , Warren G . Harding , who brought him back to Arlington National Cemetery and Calvin Coolidge , former Governor of Massachusetts , who presided at his final burial . The Dilboy Stadium was constructed at Dilboy Field in Somerville in 1953 . By 2003 , the stadium was in disrepair . State Senator Charlie Shannon lobbied the state government intensively for money to demolish and replace the stadium . While the money , over $ 8 million , was obtained , Shannon died in April 2005 , before the project ' s completion , and efforts were made to name the replacement stadium after Shannon instead of Dilboy . The renaming was scratched after some controversy and the replacement Dilboy Stadium opened in September , 2006 . Plans included placing a plaque honoring Shannon . George Dilboy Memorial erected May 24 , 1942 by the George Dilboy Memorial Foundation at the Hines Veterans Administration Hospital in Hines , IL ( a western suburb of Chicago . ) Medal of Honor citation . Rank and organization : Private First Class , U . S . Army , Company H , 103d Infantry , 26th Division . Place and date : Near Belleau , France , July 18 , 1918 . Entered service at : Keene , N . H . Birth : Greece . G . O . No . : 13 , W . D . , 1919 . Citation : After his platoon had gained its objective along a railroad embankment , Pfc . Dilboy , accompanying his platoon leader to reconnoiter the ground beyond , was suddenly fired upon by an enemy machine gun from 100 yards . From a standing position on the railroad track , fully exposed to view , he opened fire at once , but failing to silence the gun , rushed forward with his bayonet fixed , through a wheat field toward the gun emplacement , falling within 25 yards of the gun with his right leg nearly severed above the knee and with several bullet holes in his body . With undaunted courage he continued to fire into the emplacement from a prone position , killing 2 of the enemy and dispersing the rest of the crew .