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Matej Kocak

Matej Kocak
Matej kocak.jpg  US Navy Medal of Honor (1913 to 1942).png
Army and Navy Medal of Honor recipient
Born (1882-12-03)December 3, 1882
Gbely, Slovakia
Died October 4, 1918(1918-10-04) (aged 35)
KIA at Champagne, France
Place of burial Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial Romagne, France
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch  United States Marine Corps
Years of service 1907-1918
Rank Sergeant
Unit 5th Marine Regiment
Battles/wars Battle of Belleau Wood
Battle of Soissons
Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge
Awards Medal of Honor (1 Army, 1 Navy)
Silver Star (2)
Purple Heart

Matej Kocak (December 3, 1882 - October 4, 1918), a United States Marine Corps sergeant, was posthumously awarded both the Army and Navy Medals of Honor, for "heroism above and beyond the call of duty" in action against the enemy on July 18, 1918. Less than three months after his act of heroism he was killed in action by enemy gunfire in the Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge in France while serving as a member of the 66th Company, 5th Regiment.

Matej Kocak was born in Egbell, Kingdom of Hungary (today Gbely, Slovakia), in 1882. He emigrated to the United States in 1906, and on October 16, 1907, enlisted in the Marine Corps in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and began his 11-year Marine Corps career at Marine Barracks, League Island, Pennsylvania. He was discharged on October 16, 1911, at the expiration of his first enlistment but reenlisted in New York City on December 26, 1911 and was assigned to the Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, New York, for duty. For some time he lived in Binghamton, New York, where a large Slovak community used to live. He was member of Slovak Catholic Sokol in this town.

During his second enlistment, he served with the U.S. Army at Verz Cruz, Mexico, from April 30, to November 23, 1914. His enlistment ended on December 25, 1915, at Marine Barracks, New York, New York, but he again reenlisted and transferred to Marine Barracks, Naval Station, New Orleans, Louisiana.

The following year, he was ashore in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where he participated in skirmishes with native bandits in Las Canitas, Azua Province, Dominican Republic. Appointed to the rank of corporal March 23, 1917, he then returned to the United States where he joined the 12th Company at Quantico, Virginia.


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