The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Coppersmith Philip Bogan Keefer, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in action on board the U.S.S. Iowa off Santiago de Cuba, 20 July 1898. Following the blow-out of a manhole gasket of that vessel which caused the fireroom to be filled with live steam and the floor plates to be covered with boiling water, Coppersmith Keefer showed courageous and zealous conduct in hauling fires from two furnaces of Boiler B.