Charles White Whittlesey Lt . Colonel Charles White Whittlesey ( January 20 , 1884 – Presumed date of death November 26 , 1921 ) was an American Medal of Honor recipient who is notable for leading the " Lost Battalion " in the Argonne Forest during World War I . Biography . Early life and education . Whittlesey was born in Florence , Wisconsin , but moved with his family in 1894 to Pittsfield , Massachusetts , where he graduated from Pittsfield High School class of 1901 . He enrolled at Williams College , where he was a member of St . Anthony Hall , graduating in 1905 . He was voted the " third brightest man " in his class , and because of his aristocratic manner was nicknamed " Count . " He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1908 . Soon after graduating he formed a law partnership with his Williams classmate J . Bayard Pruyn in New York City . Influenced by his friend and roommate at Williams , Max Eastman , Whittlesey spent several years as a member of the American Socialist Party before resigning his membership in disgust over what he viewed as the movement ' s increasing extremism . Military service . A month after the United States entered World War I in 1917 , Whittlesey took a leave from his partnership and joined the Army . He shipped for France as a captain in the Army ' s 77th Division , also known as the " Metropolitan Division , " because it was made up largely of New York City men , principally from the polyglot Lower East side . Its members spoke 42 different languages or dialects . By September 1917 Whittlesey was commissioned a major . On the morning of October 2 , 1918 , the 77th was ordered to move forward against a heavily fortified German line as part of a massive American attack in the Meuse - Argonne region . Whittlesey commanded a mixed battalion of 554 soldiers , who advanced forward through a ravine . Because the units on their flanks failed to make headway , Whittlesey ' s troops were cut off from their supply lines , pinned down by German fire from the surrounding high bluffs . The following days were perilous for Whittlesey and his men , as they were without food or water . Some of the men had never thrown a live grenade , but for four days , they resisted snipers and attacks by waves of German troops armed with hand grenades , and in one incident , flame throwers . During this period war correspondents seized on the incident and dubbed the unit the " Lost Battalion . " On October 7 , the Germans sent forward a blindfolded American POW carrying a white flag , with a message in English : Whittlesey ' s alleged reply was " You go to hell ! " , although he later denied saying it , saying a response wasn ' t necessary . He ordered white sheets that had been placed as signals for Allied aircraft to drop supplies to be pulled in so they would not be mistaken for surrender signals . That night , a relief force arrived and the Germans retreated . Of the original 554 troops involved in the advance , 107 had been killed , 63 were missing and 190 were wounded . Only 194 were able to walk out of the ravine . Post war . Whittlesey received a battlefield promotion to lieutenant - colonel and returned to the United States as a war hero , receiving on December 6 , 1918 , one of the first three Medals of Honor awarded for valor in the war . ( One of the other two went to his second - in - command , George G . McMurtry . ) The story of the Lost Battalion was one of the most talked about events of World War I . In 1919 , the events were made into a movie with many of the actual soldiers who were part of the Lost Battalion playing themselves , including Whittlesey . He tried to return to his career , working as an attorney at the Wall Street firm of White & Case , but found himself in constant demand for speeches , parades , and honorary degrees . The pressure wore on him ; he complained to a friend : " Not a day goes by but I hear from some of my old outfit , usually about some sorrow or misfortune . I cannot bear it much more . " Disappearance . In November 1921 , Whittlesey acted as a pallbearer at the burial of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery , along with fellow Medal of Honor recipients Samuel Woodfill and Alvin York . A few days later he booked passage from New York to Havana aboard the , a United Fruit Company ship . On November 26 , 1921 , the first night out of New York , he dined with the captain and left the smoking room at 11 : 15 p . m . stating he was retiring for the evening , and it was noted by the captain that he was in good spirits . Whittlesey was never seen again . He was reported missing at 8 : 00 a . m . the following morning . He is presumed to have committed suicide by jumping overboard , although no one reported seeing him jump and Whittlesey ' s body was never recovered . Before leaving New York , he prepared a will leaving his property to his mother . He also left a series of letters in his cabin addressed to relatives and friends . The letters were addressed to his parents , his brothers Elisha and Melzar , his uncle Granville Whittlesey , and to his friends George McMurtry , J . Bayard Pruyn , Robert Forsyth Little and Herman Livingston , Jr . Also in his cabin was found a note to the captain of the " Toloa " leaving instructions for the disposition of the baggage left in his stateroom . He left the famous German letter asking for surrender to McMurtry . Whittlesey ' s headstone is in a cemetery in Pittsfield , Massachusetts . The headstone notes that his body was never recovered . In 1948 , the Charles White Whittlesey Room was dedicated at the Williams Club in New York City . In 2001 , U . S . television channel A & E made a television movie called " The Lost Battalion " based on accounts of the battle . In that portrayal Major Whittlesey was played by Rick Schroder . Medal of Honor citation . Rank and organization : Major , U . S . Army , 308th Infantry , 77th Division . Place and date : Northeast of Binarville , in the forest of Argonne France , 2 – October 7 , 1918 . Entered service at : Pittsfield , Mass . Birth . Florence , Wis . G . O . No . : 118 , W . D . , 1918 . Citation : Although cut off for 5 days from the remainder of his division , Maj . Whittlesey maintained his position , which he had reached under orders received for an advance , and held his command , consisting originally of 46 officers and men of the 308th Infantry and of Company K of the 307th Infantry , together in the face of superior numbers of the enemy during the 5 days . Maj . Whittlesey and his command were thus cut off , and no rations or other supplies reached him , in spite of determined efforts which were made by his division . On the 4th day Maj . Whittlesey received from the enemy a written proposition to surrender , which he treated with contempt , although he was at the time out of rations and had suffered a loss of about 50 percent in killed and wounded of his command and was surrounded by the enemy .