HAROLD A. FURLONG:
MICHIGAN’S ONLY NATIVE SON TO RECEIVE THE CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR IN WWI

Harold Furlong was born in Pontiac, Michigan Aug. 1, 1895 where he was raised and graduated from Pontiac High School. He interrupted his college education at Michigan Agricultural College(later became Michigan State University) when he joined the U.S. Army in 1917.  First Lieutenant Harold A. Furlong was recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honor by General John Pershing for his heroic action on Nov. 1, 1918.

The Citation reads:
“Immediately after opening of the attack near Bantheville, France when his Company was held up by severe machine gun fire from the front, which killed his company commander and several soldiers, 1st Lt. Furlong moved out in advance of the line with great courage and coolness, crossing an open space several hundred yards wide. Taking up a position behind the line of machine guns, he closed in on them, one at a time, killing a number of the enemy with his rifle, putting 4 machine gun nests out of action, and driving 20 German prisoners into our lines.”

The Medal of Honor was awarded to 1st Lt. Harold A. Furlong on Feb. 5, 1919 by General John J. Pershing, General of the Armies and Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces on the Western Front, WWI.  After the War, Harold Furlong returned to Michigan and finished his education including Medical School at the University of Michigan. He made his home in Pontiac and practiced OB/GYN at Pontiac General Hospital where he became head of the Department of OB/GYN. He founded the OB/GYN Residency Program at PGH and became its first Director. This Residency Program which Harold Founded and Directed, graduated several physicians who remained in the community to practice OB/GYN and serve the medical needs of women in this Oakland County community.

Harold an amateur artist of water color painting along with his wife, Frances, an artist(music) in her own right, founded the Pontiac Creative Arts Center in 1964. The Furlongs later left an endowment to help fund its ongoing needs and to insure the PCAC would continue to serve the educational and cultural needs of the community.

Several former medical colleagues of Dr. Harold Furlong on the Medical Staff of Pontiac General Hospital and Veterans in their own right, led the effort in 2007 to name American Legion Post #339, the Harold A. Furlong American Legion Post #339. The Post, located in Bloomfield Township, merged in 2021 with its sister Post #341 of Sylvan Lake Michigan. The resulting new entity is the Harold A. Furlong American Legion Post #341. We now serve the communities of Sylvan Lake, Bloomfield Hills, Orchard Lake, Keego Harbor, and the Townships of Bloomfield and West Bloomfield.

Dr. Harold A. Furlong served in the Michigan Army National Guard from Dec. 16, 1921 to May 31, 1946 and was honorably discharged as a Lieutenant Colonel. He died July 27, 1987 at the age of 92 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Pontiac, MI.

David H. Dinger, M.D., Adjutant
Harold A. Furlong
American Legion Post #341