BRIGADIER GENERAL
ROSWELL WINANS, USMC (DECEASED)  

 

Medal of Honor Citation 

Original Order

Brigadier General Roswell Winans, who earned the Medal of Honor during combat in the Dominican Republic, died 7 April 1968, at the San Diego Naval Hospital, San Diego, California. He was 80.

Brigadier General Winans, much-decorated veteran of almost forty years of military service, retired from active duty on 1 August 1946. His combat service goes back to the "Banana Wars" in Central America and in France during World War I.

He earned the Nation's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for action during an engagement at Guayacanas in the Dominican Republic on 3 July 1916. Serving there as a first sergeant, he was cited for extraordinary heroism in action against a considerable force of rebels on the line of march of his unit.

Roswell Winans was born 9 December 1887, in Brookeville, Indiana. After serving four years in the U.S. Army, he enlisted in the Marine Corps on 10 October 1912. He rose to the rank of first sergeant, seeing duty during the Mexican, Haitian and Dominican campaigns, before he was commissioned a second lieutenant during World War I. A captain at the end of that war, he served during the years prior to World War II at various Marine posts and stations in this country, as well as taking part in the Second Nicaraguan Campaign. He was a colonel at the outbreak of World War II, and was promoted to brigadier general upon retirement, 1 August 1946.

In addition to the Medal of Honor, BGen Winans' personal decorations include the Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a second award, the Purple Heart, and the French Croix de Guerre with palm.

Dominican Republic 1916 Medal of Honor