This Military Service Page was created/owned by
LTC Juan Rodriguez
to remember
Austin, William Grafton (MOH), COL.
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Indian Wars Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. He served in the United States Calvary during the Indian Wars as a Sergeant in Company E, 7th United States Cavalry. He was awarded his medal for service at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota on December 29, 1890. His citation reads "While the Indians were concealed in a ravine, assisted men on the skirmish line, directing their fire, etc., and using every effort to dislodge the enemy" and was issued on June 17, 1891. He was cremated at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park but his cremated remains were delivered to the mortuary Roller and Hapgood. Their final whereabouts is an unknown disposition.
Best Friends As the nation moved to a war footing again in 1917, William Austin donned the uniform of a major in the newly formed National Army. He served as a Quartermaster in the Reserve Crops where he plied his skill in managing stevedores in France as the first elements of the American Expeditionary Forces arrived in Europe. He met with such success that he was promoted to colonel and sent back to the United States to recruit several regiments of stevedores. He then took command of the 302nd Stevedore Regiment composed of 127 officers and almost 7,000 enlisted men. Colonel Austin returned to the United States again in March 1918 at General John J. Pershing’s direction to recruit additional stevedore regiments.
