Sponsored by:

Navy Federal Credit Union
Paul
Frederick
Foster
March 25, 1889

–

January 31, 1972

Cemetery:

Arlington National Cemetery

Paul Foster graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Class of 1911. Recalled to active duty during World War II, Foster was promoted to Captain and assigned to the Logistics Plans Division of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. He was later the Assistant Naval Inspector General and a member of the Navy Manpower Survey Board. He retired with the rank of Vice Admiral in December 1946. Foster joined the Atomic Energy Commission in June 1954 as a special assistant, becoming its General Manager four years later. In 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him to the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Vienna, Austria, with the rank of Ambassador, and he served in that position until 1961.

Awards Received

  • Navy Distinguished Service Medal

    Service:

    United States Navy

    Rank:

    Lieutenant

    Division:

    U.S.S. AL-2

    Action Date:

    July 10, 1918
    Authority: Navy Book of Distinguished Service (Stringer)

    The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Distinguished Service Medal to Lieutenant Paul Frederick Foster, United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility as Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. AL-2, in an encounter with an enemy submarine on 10 July 1918, in which the enemy submarine was sunk.

  • Legion of Merit

    Service:

    United States Navy

    Rank:

    Rear Admiral

    Action Date:

    August 1943 – September 1945
    Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 354 (September 1946)

    (Citation Needed) – SYNOPSIS: Rear Admiral Paul Frederick Foster, United States Navy, was awarded the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as Assistant Naval Inspector General, Naval Districts, Sea Frontiers, Naval Air Training Commands, and shore based activities from August 1943 to September 1945.

  • Medal of Honor

    Service:

    United States Navy

    Rank:

    Ensign

    Division:

    U.S.S. Utah

    Action Date:

    April 21 – 22, 1914
    War Department, General Orders No. 177 (December 4, 1915)

    The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Ensign Paul Frederick Foster, United States Navy, for distinguished conduct in battle attached to the U.S.S. UTAH during the engagements of Vera Cruz, Mexico, 21 and 22 April 1914. In both days’ fighting at the head of his company, Ensign Foster was eminent and conspicuous in his conduct, leading his men with skill and courage.

  • Navy Cross

    Service:

    United States Navy

    Rank:

    Lieutenant Commander

    Division:

    U.S.S. Trenton

    Action Date:

    October 20, 1924

    The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Commander Paul Frederick Foster, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession on the occasion of the turret disaster on board the U.S.S. TRENTON on 20 October 1924. Noting the difficulties of rescuing the men in the turret through the access door, or of extinguishing the fire from the forecastle, and with total disregard for his own safety, Lieutenant Commander Foster entered the turret from the upper handling rooms, took the fire hose which was passed to him from without and extinguished the fire in the turret and in the clothing of the members of the crew.