John W. Minick

John Wilson Minick (June 14, 1908 – November 21, 1944) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest in World War II.

Minick was born in Wall, Pennsylvania, near East McKeesport in Allegheny County, to Anthony Fuhrman and Alma J. (Churchfield) Minick, whose patriarchal Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry can be traced back to the 1700s in Perry County, Pennsylvania.

Minick joined the Army from Carlisle, Pennsylvania in August 1943, and by November 21, 1944, was serving as a staff sergeant in Company I, 121st Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division. On that day, inside German defenses of Hürtgen and Vossenack, Germany, Minick voluntarily led a small group of men through a minefield, single-handedly silenced two enemy machine gun emplacements, and engaged a company-sized force of German soldiers before he was killed while crossing a second minefield. For these actions, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 1948.

Minick, aged 36 at his death, was buried at Westminster Cemetery in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.