![Was Henry Breault Late to His Own Medal of Honor Ceremony? US Navy sailors watching the USS O-5 (SS-66) being pulled out of the water](https://irishgop.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Was-Henry-Breault-Late-to-His-Own-Medal-of-Honor.jpg)
Was Henry Breault Late to His Own Medal of Honor Ceremony?
At the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut, there is an spot reserved for the Submarine Force’s Medal of Honor recipients. Visitors can read through about the lives and assistance of Capt. John P. Cromwell, Cmdr. Samuel David Dealey, Rear Adm. Eugene B. Fluckey, Cmdr. Howard Gilmore, Rear Adm. Richard O’Kane, Vice Adm. Lawson P. Ramage and Capt. George L. Road III, who all served as the commanding officers of submarines.
There is yet another who stands as a peer among the them, TM2 Henry Breault, the only enlisted submariner to get his Medal of Honor for actions executed in these a part.
My write-up in the Worldwide Journal of Maritime Background specifics his story by introducing new specifics, and my impending book, The Silent Service’s 1st Hero, will be the end result of investigation into his everyday living, but there are many smaller episodes that are fantastic to take note.
Medal of Honor action
Henry Breault had prior navy provider below his belt before becoming a member of the US Navy. At only 16, he’d enlisted with the British Royal Navy, under the Royal Navy Canadian Volunteer Reserve, in the course of the Great War, and transferred to the American support in 1920.
On October 28, 1923, the torpedoman next course was serving aboard the USS O-5 (SS-66) when the vessel experienced a collision in the Panama Canal. At the time, the submarine was serving with the US Atlantic Fleet, less than the command of Lt. Harrison Avery, who was foremost the submarine, as well as four some others, towards the entrance of the canal.
A series of faults finally led O-5 to crash into the United Fruit Organization steamship SS Abangarez, with a 10-foot hole ripped into the submarine’s starboard aspect. Although 16 crewmen ended up saved for the duration of the initial rescue procedure, five nonetheless remained lacking, together with Breault.
Like other Medal of Honor recipients, the submariner set his have basic safety guiding that of his comrades, choosing to keep on being inside the vessel and aid fellow crew member Main Electrician’s Mate Lawrence T. Brown. They became trapped in the torpedo home and remained inside of O-5 till they were rescued the next working day all through salvage endeavours.
Henry Breault was originally suggested for the Navy Cross
![Henry Breault with the Medal of Honor around his neck](https://irishgop.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1712363681_593_Was-Henry-Breault-Late-to-His-Own-Medal-of-Honor.jpg)
Harrison Avery initially recommended Henry Breault for the Navy Cross, which Cmdr. R.H. English and Capt. Amos Bronson concurred with. Nonetheless, Rear Adm. Montgomery M. Taylor upgraded it to the Medal of Honor.
The initially general public announcement that Breault would obtain the distinction was in the Baltimore Solar on February 20, 1924. The Navy Board declared his award, but gave no date. Its members possible didn’t know when he’d present up, as they’d structured transportation by way of ship and established a tentative day as a placeholder. Breault been given his orders to go aboard the USS Capella (AK-13).
Late to his very own award ceremony?
![Calvin Coolidge standing with Henry Breault](https://irishgop.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1712363681_871_Was-Henry-Breault-Late-to-His-Own-Medal-of-Honor.jpg)
On February 23, 1924, Henry Breault boarded the USS Capella, which was scheduled to arrive in Hampton Roads on March 5. A astonishing accusation surfaced in some of the newspapers all around this time: he was allegedly late to his possess award ceremony!
Many publications available an different commitment. The Brooklyn Day by day Eagle prompt the hold off was thanks to Breault’s want for a new uniform, which makes feeling in the aftermath of the reduction of the USS O-5, for which he filed a property assert, indicating he could have misplaced all of his uniform items.
The only factor close to a rationale or justification supplied by Breault himself was throughout an interview with a reporter from The New York Night Article on March 15, 1924. According to the reporter, Breault gave the justification, “He could see no reason to hurry.”
Breault’s ceremony transpired on March 8, 1924. No point out of the submariner’s tardiness can be located in his Official Military Staff File, indicating Breault was not punished for any infraction of decorum. If he was tardy, as alleged, we can conclude it was nearly undoubtedly not his fault.
Even now, if the newspapers are to be believed, it seems Breault also shares a different 1st, currently being the only Medal of Honor recipient to be late to his own ceremony.
A century has passed due to the fact Henry Breault been given his Medal of Honor
![US Navy personnel watching as Calvin Coolidge shakes hands with Henry Breault](https://irishgop.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1712363681_558_Was-Henry-Breault-Late-to-His-Own-Medal-of-Honor.jpg)
Even if it was not his fault, for a provider that reveled in displaying an unbiased streak and a tendency to becoming nonregulation in the interval in issue, this episode most likely included to Henry Breault’s legend in his lifetime, rather than detracting from it.
He served in a period where by the Submarine Force was becoming a independent and distinct entity inside the US Navy, 1 that presented improved shell out for sailors inclined to brave the experimental boats of the interwar period.
Most likely for the reason that he was a Medal of Honor receiver, Breault has information preserved that an ordinary submariner from the period wouldn’t. As these kinds of, reconstructing his knowledge has concerned digging into various parts that have not often been linked together, this sort of as Medal of Honor recipients and timeliness.
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On March 8, 2024, the centennial anniversary of Henry Breault’s award will be celebrated. This marks 100 years considering that the Navy’s Submarine Force has had a recipient and the recognition that comes with it.
Penned by Ryan C Walker, MA, BA, Capable in Submarines
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