Medal of Honor: Henry Clay Drexler, Peacetime Heroism, October 20, 1924

Name: Henry Clay Drexler
Rank: Ensign
War/Conflict: Peacetime Heroism (USS Trenton Gun Mount Explosion)
Date of Action: October 20, 1924
Unit: U.S. Navy, USS Trenton
Born: August 7, 1901 – Braddock, Pennsylvania
Accredited to: Pennsylvania

Summary of Action
It was a calm afternoon aboard the light cruiser USS Trenton—until 3:35 p.m., when the ship’s forward twin 6-inch gun mount erupted in a sudden inferno. Two powder charges had ignited during firing trials, trapping twenty sailors inside the burning turret. Flames raced through the confined steel chamber, instantly claiming several lives and threatening to detonate the remaining powder.

Amid the chaos, Ensign Henry Clay Drexler—only 23 years old—acted without hesitation. Seeing that one charge was already ablaze, he lunged for the second, determined to shove it into the immersion tank before it could explode. It was an act of pure instinct and leadership, driven by a desperate desire to save his men. But before he could complete the effort, the fire engulfed both charges, consuming the turret in an explosion of heat and smoke.

Drexler was killed instantly, his body found beside the gun he had tried to save. His selfless act mirrored that of Boatswain’s Mate George Cholister, who also perished attempting to contain the blaze. Together, they represented the very soul of naval courage—facing certain death so that others might live.

In 1933, by a Special Act of Congress, Ensign Drexler was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary heroism aboard the USS Trenton.

Medal of Honor Citation
DREXLER, HENRY CLAY
Rank and organization: Ensign, U.S. Navy.
Born: 7 August 1901, Braddock, Pa.
Accredited to: Pennsylvania.
(Awarded by Special Act of Congress, 3 February 1933.)
Other Navy award: Navy Cross.
Citation: For extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession on the occasion of a fire on board the U.S.S. Trenton. At 3:35 on the afternoon of 20 October 1924, while the Trenton was preparing to fire trial installation shots from the two 6-inch guns in the forward twin mount of that vessel, two charges of powder ignited. Twenty men were trapped in the twin mount. Four died almost immediately and ten later from burns and inhalation of flame and gases. The six others were severely injured. Ens. Drexler, without thought of his own safety, on seeing that the charge of powder for the left gun was ignited, jumped for the right charge and endeavored to put it in the immersion tank. The left charge burst into flame and ignited the right charge before Ens. Drexler could accomplish his purpose. He met his death while making a supreme effort to save his shipmates.