James I. Mestrovitch

Medal of Honor Recipient. He received the United States highest military award for action occurring during World War I. His citation reads “Seeing his company commander lying wounded 30 yards in front of the line after his company had withdrawn to a sheltered position behind a stone wall, Sgt. Mestrovitch voluntarily left cover and crawled through heavy machine-gun and shell fire to where the officer lay. He took the officer upon his back and crawled to a place of safety, where he administered first-aid treatment, his exceptional heroism saving the officer's life.” This heroic action occurred in battle near Fismette in northern France on August 10, 1918 and his award was presented posthumously on January 30, 1919. Born “Joko Mestrovic” in Boka Kotorska, which is today's Montenegro, he was a Serb who emigrated to the United States in 1913 living mainly in California. Enlisting in the Pennsylvania National Guard, he served during World War I in the United States Army as a sergeant in Company C, 111th Infantry, 28th Division. He was deployed from New York on May 5, 1918 on the USS “Olympia.,” with next of kin listed as a brother, Peter I. Mestrovitch of Stockton, California. During the 1920s, his remains were repatriated by a United States battleship from France to be buried in the Serbian Orthodox Church of St. John near his home village of Durasevici.