Medal of Honor: Robert R. Scott – World War II – December 7, 1941

Name: Robert Raymond Scott
Rank: Machinist’s Mate First Class
Organization: U.S. Navy
Unit: USS California (BB-44)
Place and Date: Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii – 7 December 1941
Entered Service At: Ohio
Born: July 13, 1915 – Massillon, Ohio
Departed: December 7, 1941 (Killed in Action)
Accredited To: Ohio

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Summary of Action

On the morning of December 7, 1941, as Japanese torpedoes slammed into USS California, flooding began to spread rapidly through the ship. Deep below decks, Machinist’s Mate First Class Robert R. Scott was manning the air-compressor station responsible for supplying pressure to the ship’s guns.

When a torpedo struck near his compartment, water and oil surged in. The order was given to evacuate, and the sailors around him climbed out before the space became completely inaccessible. Scott refused to follow them. He knew that abandoning the compressor would silence the ship’s antiaircraft batteries just as the attack intensified.

“This is my station,” he said. “I will stay and give them air as long as the guns are going.”

He remained at his post as the compartment flooded completely, sacrificing himself so the ship’s defenders could continue firing.

His final act, carried out with calm resolve in the darkness below decks, stands among the most selfless moments recorded on Battleship Row.

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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.”