Navy Chief Sacrificed His Life and Earned the Medal of Honor Saving 123 Sailors During the Battle of the Coral Sea

Chief Watertender Oscar V. Peterson spent 21 years at sea before May 7, 1942, when Japanese bombs turned the USS Neosho into a burning wreck during the Battle of the Coral Sea. Already wounded from the attack, the 42-year-old sailor crawled alone into superheated compartments to manually close four massive steam line valves.