Gotfred was born on the 20th of November, 1872 in Denmark and he enlisted in the US Army in Devils Lake, North Dakota. He was a Private with Company D of the 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry and was stationed in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War and was still there when the Philippine Insurrection began. His actions with Young’s Scouts on the 13th of May, 1899, earned him the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:

With 11 other scouts, without waiting for the supporting battalion to aid them or to get into a position to do so, charged over a distance of about 150 yards and completely routed about 300 of the enemy, who were in line and in a position that could only be carried by a frontal attack.

Gotfred was discharged from the Army in July of 1899 and he received the Medal of Honor on the 6th of June, 1906. Gotfred Jensen died on the 26th of December, 1945 at the age of 73 and he is buried in the Washington Veterans Home Cemetery in Retsil, Washington: Section 60, Lot 5.