Navy Federal Credit Union

Awards Received

  • Navy and Marine Corps Medal

    Service:

    United States Navy

    Rank:

    Chief Watertender

    Division:

    U.S.S. Oklahoma (BB-37)

    Action Date:

    December 7, 1941

    Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin 311 (February 1943)

    The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy and Marine Corps Medal (Posthumously) to Chief Watertender Paul R. Wright, United States Navy, for distinguished heroism and intrepidity at the risk of life not involving conflict with an armed enemy, during the attack by enemy Japanese forces on the United States Pacific Fleet, Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 7 December 1941. When the Battleship U.S.S. OKLAHOMA (BB-37) capsized, Chief Watertender Wright, entrapped in one of the ship’s compartments with a number of the crew, courageously risked his life in assisting fifteen of the crew to escape through a submerged porthole.