Hometown: Crossville, TN
Branch: U.S. Army 
Unit: Company G, 119th Infantry Regiment, 30th Division
Military Honors: Medal of Honor
Date of Sacrifice: September 29, 1918 - KIA near Bellicourt, France
Age: 28
Conflict: World War I, 1914-1918

The tenth of eleven children, Milo Lemert was born in Albion, Iowa on March 25, 1890, to Edward (who had served in the Union Army) and Harriett Lemert. The family moved frequently when Milo was a boy, from Iowa to Oklahoma to Kansas. As a young man, Milo attended Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, and was president of his class.

After college, Lemert traveled to Wyoming to take a job shearing sheep, sending the money home to his family. In 1912, Lemert’s father purchased a farm south of Crossville, Tennessee, where the family settled.

With war breaking out in Europe and the United States on the verge of getting involved, Milo—along with his brother Nathan—joined the Tennessee National Guard. They were sent to Camp Sevier in Greenville, South Carolina for training, where Milo demonstrated leadership qualities and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant.

While in Greenville, Milo married Nellie V. Snodgrass, a young woman—also from Crossville—who was now teaching school near the Greenville base. The two were married on September 29, 1917.

In March 1918, the two brothers learned that they would be sent to Europe with Company G, 119th Infantry, 30th Division—known as the “Old Hickory” Division. They sailed for France in May.

In July 1918, Milo Lemert wrote home to his mother, “I am a pretty good soldier and am proud of it…As for me I can shut my eyes and dream such sweet dreams of Tenn. that I am sure I will have to be chained in heaven if I do get bumped off in No man’s Land.”

A turning point in World War I (1914-1918) came when American troops fought alongside the French Army in northern France. On September 29, 1918—Milo Lemert’s first wedding anniversary—the 30th Division smashed through Germany’s famed Hindenburg Line defenses near Bellicourt, France.

Milo Lemert would display ferocious courage when his unit came under heavy fire that day, protecting his fellow soldiers (including his brother Nathan) at the cost of his life.

General John J. Pershing recommended Lemert for the Congressional Medal of Honor, for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty, in action with the enemy.” Sgt. Lemert’s citation reads:

Seeing that the left flank of his company was held up, he located the enemy machine-gun emplacement, which had been causing heavy casualties. In the face of heavy fire he rushed it singlehandedly, killing the entire crew with grenades. Continuing along the enemy trench in advance of the company, he reached another emplacement, which he also charged, silencing the gun with grenades. A third machine-gun emplacement opened up on him from the left and with similar skill and bravery he destroyed this also. Later, in company with another sergeant, he attacked a fourth machine-gun nest, being killed as he reached the parapet of the emplacement. His courageous action in destroying in turn four enemy machine-gun nests prevented many casualties among his company and very materially aided in achieving the objective.

Less than two months later, the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, ending the deadly “war to end all wars.” Nathan Lemert, in a letter home to his mother, wrote about his heroic brother:

There is no use to grieve, tho, Mama. He was willing and ready to go. He gave his life for his country and there wasn’t an ounce of cowardice in his big body. He died like a man and hero. No one can die a braver death than he did…There isn’t another man like him in the world. Every man in the company loved him and would do anything for him. He was right in the heaviest of the fighting, trying to keep the boys together and run out a [nest] of machine guns when a machine gun bullet got him through the body. His last words were, “I am finished, boys, give them hell.”…I helped bury him. We put him with the rest of our boys who were killed.

Hastily buried near the battlefield in France, Sgt. Milo Lemert’s remains would finally return home to Tennessee on July 28, 1921. He is buried in Crossville City Cemetery.

Sources
Details submitted by the East Tennessee Veterans Memorial Association
East Tennessee Veterans Memorial Association: Milo Lemert
Tennessee State Museum: It’s Milo Lemert’s Birthday: A Remembrance
Congressional Medal of Honor Society: Milo Lemert
Medal of Honor Convention: Milo Lemert
WBIR10 News: Video—Recognizing Medal of Honor recipients: Milo Lemert
Crossville Chronicle, Nov. 6, 2018: Sgt. Milo Lemert: ‘He died like a man and a hero.’
Burial Site: Find a Grave