Harold G. Kiner

Private Harold G. Kiner, US Army (1924-1944), a native of Aline, Oklahoma, was awarded the Medal of Honor for action near Palenberg, Germany during World War II. He joined the Army from Enid, Oklahoma, and in 1944 was a private in Company F, 117th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division.

October 2, 1944, while leading four other soldiers in a frontal assault on a Siegfried Line pillbox, the group came under heavy machinegun fire from the strongly defended enemy position, 25 yards away. The German soldiers threw hand grenades one of which dropped between Private Kiner and two other soldiers. Without hesitation, Private Kiner hurled himself upon the grenade smothering the explosion with his body. By his gallant action, he voluntarily sacrificed his life to save his fellow soldiers from serious injury or death.

His conduct throughout was in keeping with the heroic traditions of the US Military Service. Private Kiner is buried in Eastern Star Cemetery at his birth place of Aline.