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Pearl Harbor's Medal of Honor Recipients |
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Pearl Harbor's Medal of Honor Recipients |
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| Recipients of the Medal of Honor | ||||
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DONALD KIRBY ROSS 8 December 1910 – 27 May 1992 picture: Lieutenant Donald K. Ross, circa 1944 Rank and organization: Machinist, U.S. Navy Entered service at: Denver, Colorado Years of service: 1929 - 1956 Ending Rank: Captain Battles: Attack on Pearl Harbor, Battle of Normandy, Operation Dragoon Awards: Medal of Honor Place of death: Bremerton, Washington |
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Donald Kirby Ross (8 December 1910 – 27 May 1992), born Beverly, Kansas
was an officer of the United States Navy who received the Medal of
Honor. Ross enlisted in the U.S. Navy in Denver, Colorado, on 3 June 1929 and graduated company honorman from basic training, San Diego, Calif.. He completed Machinist Mate School, Norfolk, Va. first in his class and was assigned to USS Henderson (AP-1) on a China service run. While serving in hospital ship Relief (AH-1), Ross saw his first action (with the Marines) in Nicaragua in 1931. Advancing through the rates on the minesweeper Brant (AM-24), destroyer Simpson (DD-221) and cruiser Minneapolis (CA-36), he attained the rank of Warrant Officer Machinist in October 1940, and was assigned to the battleship Nevada (BB-36). During the 7 December 1941 Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor, Nevada was badly damaged by bombs and torpedoes. Ross distinguished himself by assuming responsibility to furnish power to get the ship underway - the only battleship to do so during the Japanese attack. Medal of Honor Citation: "For distinguished conduct in the line of his profession, extraordinary courage and disregard of his own life during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, by Japanese forces on 7 December 1941. When his station in the forward dynamo room of the U.S.S. Nevada became almost untenable due to smoke, steam, and heat, Machinist Ross forced his men to leave that station and performed all the duties himself until blinded and unconscious. Upon being rescued and resuscitated, he returned and secured the forward dynamo room and proceeded to the after dynamo room where he was later again rendered unconscious by exhaustion. Again recovering consciousness he returned to his station where he remained until directed to abandon it." Ross was promoted to Chief Machinist in March 1942. He was presented the Medal of Honor by Admiral Chester Nimitz on 18 April 1942, and was commissioned an Ensign in June 1942. Later in the war, he also participated in the landings at Normandy and Southern France. He rose steadily in temporary rank to Lieutenant Commander by the end of the war, reverting to Lieutenant at its conclusion. He again received promotion to Lieutenant Commander in 1949 and to Commander in November 1954. Upon his retirement from active duty in July 1956, after twenty-seven years' of service aboard every type of surface ship then afloat, he was promoted to Captain on the basis of his combat awards. Making his home in Washington state after leaving the Navy, Captain Ross was active in farm life and community affairs, and in perpetuating the memory of the Pearl Harbor attack, which he described as "not a story about a defeat. It's a story about a job well done". He attended 50th Anniversary ceremonies at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1991, during which a memorial was dedicated to his old ship, USS Nevada. Captain Donald K. Ross died at Bremerton, Washington, on 27 May 1992. In 1997, the guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG-71) was named in honor of Captain Ross. |
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ROBERT R. SCOTT * July 13, 1915 - December 7, 1941 Rank and organization: Machinist's Mate First Class (Petty Officer First Class), U.S. Navy Years of service: 1938-1941 Accredited to Ohio Awards: Medal of Honor, Awarded Posthumously Photo submitted by Bill Gonyo - I have a second photo from the web site Home of Heroes. I needed the photo myself for a Namesake of the destroyer escort USS Scott (DE-214) was named in his honor. |
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Robert R. Scott was born in Massillon, Ohio, on 13 July 1915 and
enlisted in the United States Navy on 18 April 1938. Machinist's Mate
First Class Scott was assigned to USS California (BB-44) when the
Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The compartment
containing the air compressor to which Scott was assigned as his battle
station was flooded as a result of a torpedo hit. The remainder of the
personnel evacuated the space, but Scott refused to leave, saying words
to the effect that “This is my station and I will stay and give them
air as long as the guns are going.” He was posthumously awarded the
Medal of Honor for his heroism. Medal of Honor Citation: For conspicuous devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and complete disregard of his own life, above and beyond the call of duty, during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on 7 December 1941. The compartment, in the U.S.S. California, in which the air compressor, to which Scott was assigned as his battle station, was flooded as the result of a torpedo hit. The remainder of the personnel evacuated that compartment but Scott refused to leave, saying words to the effect "This is my station and I will stay and give them air as long as the guns are going.'' In 1943, the destroyer escort USS Scott (DE-214) was named in his honor. Scott was also a former student at Ohio State University where the Scott House dormitory is named after him. |
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Arlington National Cemetery, #34-3939
During the attack on the U.S. Naval Fleet, Pearl Harbor
by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941, the compartment, in the U.S.S.
California in which the air compressor which Machinist's Mate First
Class Scott was assigned as his battle station, flooded as the result
of a torpedo hit. The remainder of the personnel evacuated but Scott
refused to leave, saying words to the effect "This is my station and I
will stay and give them air as long as the guns are going.''Born: July 13, 1915 Massillon, Ohio Entered the US Navy from Ohio Earned the Medal of Honor for heroism at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Died: December 07, 1941 age: 26 |
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PETER TOMICH * June 3, 1893 – December 7, 1941 Rank and organization: Chief Watertender, U.S. Navy Accredited to: New Jersey Years of service: World War I (Army), 1919 - 1941 (Navy) Served on: USS Litchfield (DD-336), USS Utah (AG-16) Awards: Medal of Honor, Awarded Posthumously Photo is from the Naval Historical Center. |
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Peter Tomich (June 3, 1893 – December 7, 1941), born Prolog,
Austria-Hungary was an ethnic Croat born in Prolog near Ljubuški,
Austria-Hungary, in what later became Bosnia and Herzegovina. During
World War I he served in the US Army. After enlisting in the United
States Navy in January 1919, he initially served in the destroyer
Litchfield (DD-336). By 1941, he had become a Chief Watertender on board the training and target ship Utah (AG-16). On December 7, 1941, while the ship lay in Pearl Harbor, moored off Ford Island, she was torpedoed during Japan's raid on Pearl Harbor. Tomich was on duty in a boiler room. As Utah began to capsize, he remained below, securing the boilers and making certain that other men escaped, and so lost his life. For his "distinguished conduct and extraordinary courage" at that time, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. His Medal of Honor was on display at the Navy's Senior Enlisted Academy (Tomich Hall) until it was posthumously awarded to members of his family on 18 May 2006, aboard the USS Enterprise in the Adriatic Sea, off the coast of Croatia. Medal of Honor Citation: For distinguished conduct in the line of his profession, and extraordinary courage and disregard of his own safety, during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor by the Japanese forces on 7 December 1941. Although realizing that the ship was capsizing, as a result of enemy bombing and torpedoing, Tomich remained at his post in the engineering plant of the U.S.S. Utah, until he saw that all boilers were secured and all fireroom personnel had left their stations, and by so doing lost his own life. The destroyer escort USS Tomich (DE-242), 1943–1974, was named in honor of Chief Watertender Tomich. |
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