PRIVATE FIRST CLASS
LEONARD F. MASON, USMC (DECEASED) 
 

Medal of Honor Citation

Private First Class Leonard Foster Mason, 24, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry in action when, despite serious wounds, he singlehandedly charged and wiped out an enemy machinegun position on Guam, 22 July 1944. He died of his wounds the following day aboard a hospital ship offshore. An automatic rifleman, he had participated in the initial landing on Guam on 21 July.

Leonard F. Mason was born 22 February 1920, in Middlesboro, Kentucky, and attended public schools there. He later moved to Lima, Ohio, where he worked for the Superior Body Works.

After enlisting in 1942, he trained at Parris Island, South Carolina. He went overseas in October 1943, and took part in combat on Bougainville with the 3d Marines, 3d Marine Division, prior to sacrificing his life on Guam. Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal presented the Medal of Honor to PFC Mason's mother with his two sisters witnessing the presentation.

World War II Medal of Honor