Cuningham, John Dale

Cuningham was awarded the Légion d'honneur (Chevalier degree) posthumously on November 11, 2011.

JOHN DALE CUNINGHAM on June 4th while working on the Italian Front; was instantly killed by shell fire. Time after time during the year and a half he served he had gone out courageously to advanced posts without thought of himself. His loss will be keenly felt by all those who knew him and served with him.

__ AFS Letters No. 26

The most unusual experience fell to L. L. Biddle, Jr., and J. D. Cuningham, with 57 Antitank Regiment, which was out of the line at the start of battle. Later a single battery was sent up to pinch-hit for infantry and to hold a village while the Guards cleared the next ridge. Biddle and Cuningham accompanied the battery, while the MO remained with the RAP. On arrival they were told to establish an emergency first-aid station for the attack of the next day.

"Exciting and interesting work and the real thing at last," Biddle wrote. "We are now in a small village in mountainous terrain, really beautiful country, heavily wooded and dappled with shadow and sunshine---for the weather has been fine, the air cool and fresh and invigorating. . . . But this little village has been razed by the retreating Nazis. There is scarcely a house which has escaped meaningless ravage by dynamite and fire. The narrow, winding cobblestone streets are filled with rubble. The inhabitants still dazed and fearful. . . .

"Dale and I . . . managed to acquire a pretty adequate supply of stores en route---bandages, field dressings, and sulphanilimide powder and ointment, even some morphine. Those sulpha derivatives are certainly worth their weight in gold! We set up a sort of medical room in the village schoolhouse. In the mornings we attend to the troops of our assignment, in the afternoon to the civilians. Running sores and a few shrapnel wounds are now healing well---Drs. Biddle and Cuningham doing minor operations with a pair of sterile scissors to cut away decaying skin and make the sores clean. It's a great satisfaction to feel you are doing some good, and the people are immensely grateful---bring us apples and perhaps some vino in appreciation."

__ George Rock. Chapter 7. "Italy 1. Termoli, Volturno-Monte Camino, Trigno-Sangro-Ortona (1 October 1943 to 14 January 1944)" History of the American Field Service, 1920-1955. New York 1956.

On 4 June, B Platoon suffered another casualty. J. D. Cuningham, while attached to 2 Rifle Brigade, was killed by a shell which hit his ambulance exactly in the center of the red cross on the side. Returning from an attack in which a hill near Fiuggi had been taken, the several medical vehicles of the RAP with which he was working stopped 2 miles east of Fiuggi for a brew-up in what seemed a protective dip in the road. The first sounds of shelling a mile away did not worry them, but as it came closer some of the cars got off the road. Cuningham, the MO, and two British orderlies were killed before they could get away. An NCO for some months, John Dale Cuningham had been called "an inspiration to his section," and his loss was keenly felt.

__ George Rock. Chapter 9. "Italy 3. Cassino and the Break-Through to Rome (February to 6 June 1944)" History of the American Field Service, 1920-1955. New York 1956.