GEORGE MATHEWS SHELTON (1877 ~ 1949). Medal of Honor recipient George M. Shelton was born on December 23, 1877, at Brownwood, Texas, to Amos and Octavia Shelton. He joined the Army in Billington, Texas, on May 12, 1898, and was assigned to Company I, 23rd Infantry as a private and deployed to the Philippines for the Spanish-American War.
He remained in the Philippines after the end of the Spanish-American War to fight in the Philippine Insurrection. On April 26, 1900, near La Paz on the island of Leyte, Shelton advanced alone under heavy enemy fire to rescue a wounded soldier, an action for which he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on March 10, 1902.
Shelton served in World War I as a captain and was stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco at the time of his death on January 18, 1949. He is buried in the San Francisco National Cemetery.
Bibliography: "Above and Beyond: The Medal of Honor in Texas." Capitol Visitors Center, State Preservation Board of Texas; Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association, University of Texas, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles; Official U.S. Military Records, National Personnel Records Center, National Archives and Records Administration.
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