World War I
In 1917, the United States entered World War I. On 1 October 1917, the Fourth was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division. Stationed at Fort Brown, Texas, the regiment recruited and trained up to strength and on the first anniversary of the American entry into the war, left for France.
The Fourth Infantry disembarked at Brest, France in 1918 and participated in the defensive actions of Aisne, Château-Thierry, Second Battle of the Marne, and in the Third Battle of the Aisne, Saint-Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne offensives under the command of Colonel Halstead Dorey. The entire regiment was decorated with the French Croix de Guerre,
On 7 October 1918 near Cunel, France, PFC John L. Barkley, Co. K, 4th Infantry was stationed in an observation post half a kilometer from the German line, on his own initiative repaired a captured enemy machinegun and mounted it in a disabled French tank near his post. Shortly afterward, when the enemy launched a counterattack against American forces, PFC Barkley got into the tank, waited under the hostile barrage until the enemy line was abreast of him and then opened fire, completely breaking up the counterattack and killing and wounding a large number of the enemy. Five minutes later an enemy 77-millimeter gun opened fire on the tank pointblank. One shell struck the drive wheel of the tank, but this soldier nevertheless remained in the tank and after the barrage ceased broke up a second enemy counterattack, thereby enabling American forces to gain and hold Hill 25. PFC Barkley received the Medal of Honor for his actions.
After a rest which the organization received six hundred replacements, it was marched to a position in the Forest De Passe, and on 9 November 1918, received orders to be ready on a moments notice. The men knew they were to take part in the final drive to encircle Metz in the event the Germans did not accept terms of the proposed armistice. Preparations were being made for the departure on the morning of 11 November, when the end of the war was heralded by the French villagers. The Fourth Infantry served as part of the Army of Occupation in France, until 1919.
