Richard William O'Neill (August 28, 1897 – April 9, 1982) was a soldier in the United States Army who served during World War I.

He received the Medal of Honor to recognize his heroism during combat along the Ourcq River in July 1918; O'Neill was wounded more than 10 times, and all the soldiers he was leading were killed.

Despite his wounds, O'Neill made his way back to friendly lines to pass on information about enemy positions, which enabled U.S. troops to successfully press the attack.

During World War II he worked for the Office of Strategic Services; the agency's head, William J. Donovan, had been O'Neill's World War I commander, and Donovan employed O'Neill in an effort to identify and apprehend potential German spies or collaborators in the northeastern United States.

[4] During a combat action along the Ourcq River on July 30, 1918, O'Neill led a detachment of soldiers in a reconnaissance to determine the location of German artillery positions.

[4] According to family members, for the rest of his life O'Neill would occasionally remove from his legs pieces of shrapnel that worked their way to the surface of his skin.

[4] He later worked in sales, and then purchased a liquor store near the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, which he operated until retiring in the early 1960s.

[9] O'Neill argued that the payments would be too small to make a meaningful difference to the veterans who received it, and that the government should do more to aid them with job creation and medical care.

[11] In addition, he made frequent public appearances, including serving as grand marshal of Memorial Day parades[12] and marching at 1960s demonstrations in support of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

[16] Geaney was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism for the same action for which O'Neill received the Medal of Honor.

Being again wounded, he was forced by weakness and loss of blood to be evacuated, but insisted upon being taken first to the battalion commander in order to transmit to him valuable information relative to enemy positions and the disposition of our men.