Elmer Charles Bigelow

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elmer Charles Bigelow
July 12, 1920(1920-07-12) – February 15, 1945 (aged 24)
Elmer Charles Bigelow
Water Tender Second Class Elmer Charles Bigelow
Place of birth Hebron, Illinois
Place of death Philippines
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Naval Reserve
Years of service 1942 – 1945
Rank Water Tender Second Class
Unit USS Fletcher (DD-445)
Awards Medal of Honor

Elmer Charles Bigelow (12 July 1920 – 15 February 1945) was a United States Navy sailor and a recipient of America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Elmer Charles Bigelow was born in Hebron, Illinois, on 12 July 1920. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve at Chicago, Illinois in September 1942 and received training at Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago, Illinois, and at Lawrence, Kansas, before being assigned as a Fireman Third Class on board the destroyer USS Fletcher (DD-445) in June 1943. While serving in that ship, he advanced in rate to Water Tender Second Class. On 14 February 1945, while assisting minesweeping operations prior to landings on Manila Bay's Corregidor Island, Fletcher was hit by an enemy shell and set afire. Bigelow heroically fought the blaze, contributing greatly to saving his ship, but was badly injured and died the next day. Water Tender Second Class Bigelow was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity". Bigelow was buried in Linn-Hebron Cemetery in Hebron, Illinois.

[edit] Namesake

The destroyer USS Bigelow (DD-942), 1957-1990, was named in honor of Water Tender Second Class Elmer Charles Bigelow.

[edit] Medal of Honor citation

Elmer Bigelow's official Navy Medal of Honor citation is as follows:

"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving on board the U.S.S. Fletcher during action against enemy Japanese forces off Corregidor Island in the Philippines, 14 February 1945. Standing topside when an enemy shell struck the Fletcher, BIGELOW, acting instantly as the deadly projectile exploded into fragments which penetrated the No. 1 gun magazine and set fire to several powder cases, picked up a pair of fire extinguishers and rushed below in a resolute attempt to quell the raging flames. Refusing to waste the precious time required to don rescue-breathing apparatus, he plunged through the blinding smoke billowing out of the magazine hatch and dropped into the blazing compartment. Despite the acrid, burning powder smoke which seared his lungs with every agonizing breath, he worked rapidly and with instinctive sureness and succeeded in quickly extinguishing the fires and in cooling the cases and bulkheads, thereby preventing further damage to the stricken ship. Although he succumbed to his injuries on the following day, BIGELOW, by his dauntless valor, unfaltering skill and prompt action in the critical emergency, had averted a magazine explosion which undoubtedly would have left his ship wallowing at the mercy of the furiously pounding Japanese guns on Corregidor, and his heroic spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of almost certain death enhanced and sustained the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country."

[edit] See also

United States Navy Portal

[edit] References