Sgt. Elbert L. Kinser

Sgt. Elbert L. Kinser is a Tennessee historical marker in on courthouse grounds, Greene County.

Greene Co, Greeneville, on courthouse grounds

Get directions ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

For conspicuous gallantry as a leader of a First Marine Division Rifle Platoon on Okinawa Shima on May 4, 1945, this Greene County native was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously by President Harry S. Truman. Attacked by Japanese forces, Sgt. Kinser engaged the enemy in a fierce hand grenade battle. Quick to act when a grenade landed, he threw himself on it, absorbing the explosion, and saving his men at the expense of his own life. He is buried in the Solomon Lutheran Church Cemetery in Greene County.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1796 · Map of The Tennassee (sic) Government. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1829 · Tennessee (A. Finley, 1829) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1892 · Greeneville, Tennessee (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1895 · Gen. map VII. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1896 · Greeneville, Tennessee (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

Example

For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

Upload your family tree and TreeAlive finds the markers near where your own ancestors lived.

See your family's markers

Start with a tree file, a FamilySearch sign in, or a WikiTree ID.

Report a problem with this page

The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyThat would be an error, and we can pass it to the program.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

We may pass what you report to the state's marker program. Please don't include personal details.

Marker text and location from the Tennessee Historical Commission, as the Commission publishes them on its marker map.

More markers nearby

Greeneville Union Conventionsame spot
Olde Greene County Gaolunder 1 mi
First Presbyterian Churchunder 1 mi
Death of John Morgan September 4, 1864under 1 mi