Copied from SUBNET's SUBMARINERS
MEDAL OF HONOR page
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at SUBNET's USS O-5 (SS-66) page.
General Order Number 125 of
20 February 1924
awards the Medal of Honor to
TM, Henry Berault.
He and TM Brown were in the torpedo
room of the USS O-5 (SS-66) in the Panama Canal Zone. The O-5 collided
with the SS Abangarez on the morning of 28 October 1923. The O-5 sank in
less than a minute. But in that minute, Henry Berault exhibited the kind
of heroism and self-sacrifice which should take its place with the seven
heroes from WW II but hasn't.
When he felt the collision and felt
the boat start to go down, Berault headed for the open torpedo room hatch.
He had just about reached the top of the ladder when water started to cascade
down the hatch. Realizing that he could get out but that Brown would be
trapped in the room, Berault reached up and pulled the torpedo room hatch
shut and headed back down to insure the watertight door was shut.
He did so with the full realization
that he had trapped himself in a sinking submarine but in doing so, he
gave his shipmate the only chance he would have to live. Fortunately, they
both survived and were rescued almost two days later when the bow was lifted
clear of the water.
... Street, Ramage, O'Kane, Fluckey,
Dealey, Gilmore and Cromwell have become legendary in the Submarine Force
and have served as symbols of what is the best of the brave. The eighth,
Berault had been forgotten in the rush to remember only World War II heroes.
No longer ... as of now he will take his rightful place as a hero of the
Submarine Force.
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