Medal of Honor: Henry Breault, Peacetime, October 28, 1923

Name: Henry Breault
Rank: Torpedoman Second Class
War/Service: Peacetime (U.S. Navy Submarine Service)
Date of Action: October 28, 1923
Unit: USS O-5 (O-class submarine)
Born: October 14, 1900 – Putnam, Connecticut
Accredited to: Vermont

Summary of Action

Just after dawn in the Panama Canal, the submarine O-5 collided with the steamship Abangarez and sank in less than sixty seconds. In that instant, Torpedoman Second Class Henry Breault reached the open hatch—his only chance at survival. But when he realized another sailor was still below, trapped in the torpedo room, Breault turned back. Slamming the hatch shut to prevent flooding, he and Chief Electrician’s Mate Lawrence Brown were sealed inside as the sub settled into the mud 42 feet down. For 31 long hours they endured the cold, darkness, and dwindling air, until Navy divers reached the wreck and cut them free. Breault’s decision—to face certain death for another man’s life—made him the first enlisted submariner in U.S. Navy history to receive the Medal of Honor.

Medal of Honor Citation

BREAULT, HENRY
Rank and organization: Torpedoman Second Class, U.S. Navy. Born: 14 October 1900, Putnam, Conn. Accredited to: Vermont. G.O. No.: 125, 20 February 1924.
Citation: For heroism and devotion to duty while serving on board the U.S. submarine O-5 at the time of the sinking of that vessel. On the morning of 28 October 1923, the O-5 collided with the steamship Abangarez and sank in less than a minute. When the collision occurred, Breault was in the torpedo room. Upon reaching the hatch, he saw that the boat was rapidly sinking. Instead of jumping overboard to save his own life, he returned to the torpedo room to the rescue of a shipmate whom he knew was trapped in the boat, closing the torpedo room hatch on himself. Breault and Brown remained trapped in this compartment until rescued by the salvage party 31 hours later. (Medal presented by President Calvin Coolidge at the White House on March 8, 1924.)