George Dilboy

George Dilboy
George Dilboy in his Army uniform
Born	(1896-02-05)February 5, 1896 Alatsata, Ethnic Greek Town in Ottoman Turkey
Died	July 18, 1918(1918-07-18) (aged 22) Near Belleau, France
Place of burial	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America Greece
Service/branch	United States Army Greek Army
Years of service	1912–1913 (Greek Army) 1916–1918 (U.S. Army)
Rank	Private First Class
Unit	103rd Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars	First Balkan War Second Balkan War Border War World War I
Awards	Medal of Honor

George Dilboy (Americanized transliteration of Greek name: Γεώργιος Διλβόης), (February 5, 1896 – July 18, 1918), Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company H, 103rd Infantry Regiment (United States), 26th Division is thought to be the first Greek-American to receive the Medal of Honor during World War I. He led an attack on a machine gun position and continued to fire at the enemy despite being seriously wounded, killing two of the enemy and dispersing the remainder of the gun crew. General John Pershing listed George Dilboy as "one of the ten great heroes" who "died in the battlefield of France with super-human heroism and valor." Dilboy is buried in Section 18 of Arlington National Cemetery.

Dilboy was born in the Greek settlement of Alatsata, in Ottoman Turkey in Asia Minor, near Smyrna. His father emigrated to the United States in 1908, and George later joined him in 1910, settling first in Somerville, Massachusetts. But Dilboy went to Greece in 1912 where he volunteered to fight in the Greek Army in Thessaly during the First Balkan War of 1912–13. He remained there to successfully fight in Macedonia in the Second Balkan War of 1913.

Returning to Somerville, he went to school and worked for a few years before volunteering to fight in the U.S. Army in the Mexican Border War in 1916–1917. He entered service at Keene, New Hampshire. He obtained an honorable discharge, but within months thereafter, re-joined the US Army to fight in France during World War I.