Oscar Schmidt, Jr.

Oscar Schmidt, Jr.

Chief Gunner's Mate Oscar Schmidt
Born (1896-03-25)March 25, 1896
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died March 24, 1973(1973-03-24) (aged 76)
Buried at Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Navy
Rank Chief Gunner's Mate
Unit USS Chestnut Hill (ID-2526)
Battles/wars World War I
Awards Medal of Honor

Oscar Schmidt, Jr. (March 25, 1896 – March 24, 1973) was a United States Navy sailor and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War I.

Biography

Reverse side of Schmidt's Medal of Honor.

Schmidt joined the Navy from his birth state of Pennsylvania and served during and after World War I, rising to the rank of Chief Gunner's Mate. On October 9, 1918, while a crewmember on USS Chestnut Hill (ID-2526), he assisted in the rescue of crewmen from the burning submarine chaser USS SC-219 following a gasoline explosion. For this act, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Schmidt died the day before his 77th birthday and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington County, Virginia.

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Chief Gunner's Mate, U.S. Navy. Place and date: At sea, October 9, 1918. Entered service at: Pennsylvania. Born: March 25, 1896, Philadelphia, Pa. G.O. No.: 450, 1919.

Citation:

For gallant conduct and extraordinary heroism while attached to the U.S.S. Chestnut Hill, on the occasion of the explosion and subsequent fire on board the U.S. submarine chaser 219. Schmidt, seeing a man, whose legs were partly blown off, hanging on a line from the bow of the 219, jumped overboard, swam to the sub chaser and carried him from the bow to the stern where a member of the 219's crew helped him land the man on the afterdeck of the submarine. Schmidt then endeavored to pass through the flames amidships to get another man who was seriously burned. This he was unable to do, but when the injured man fell overboard and drifted to the stern of the chaser Schmidt helped him aboard.[1]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Medal of Honor recipients - World War I". Medal of Honor citations. United States Army Center of Military History. April 15, 2005. Retrieved 2007-04-26.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.
 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Naval History & Heritage Command.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, March 20, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.