David, Albert Leroy L.., LT

Deceased
 
 Service Photo   Service Details
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Final Rank
Lieutenant
Last Designator
144X-Engineering Duty Officer - Ship Engineering Specialist
Last Designator Group
Line Officer
Primary Unit
1944-1945, 144X, Naval Station (NAVSTA) Norfolk, VA
Service Years
1919 - 1945
Lieutenant Lieutenant

 Last Photo   Personal Details 

76 kb


Home State
Missouri
Missouri
Year of Birth
1902
 
This Military Service Page was created/owned by PO1 Jeff Frey (Ace) to remember David, Albert Leroy (MOH), LT.

If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
 
Contact Info
Home Town
Maryville
Last Address
Norfolk, Virginia

Date of Passing
Sep 17, 1945
 
Location of Interment
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery (VA) - San Diego, California
Wall/Plot Coordinates
Section OFF, Site 125-A

 Official Badges 




 Unofficial Badges 




 Military Associations and Other Affiliations
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery (VA)
  1945, National Cemetery Administration (NCA), Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery (VA) (San Diego, California)


 Additional Information
Last Known Activity:

  • Lead an eight man Boarding Team in successful boarding and capture of the German Submarine U-505, the first capture of a enemy man-o-war on the high seas since 1815.
  • Directed the initial salvage operations of U-505.
  • USS Albert David (DE-1050) named in his honor.
  • U-505 is currently on display at the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago.
David was recalled to active duty on September 27, 1939, less than a month after World War II broke out in Europe with Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland.

Appointed machinist on May 13, 1942, David was assigned to the Submarine Repair Unit, San Diego on May 28, and served in that unit for five months. While there, he received his promotion to ensign on June 15. Reporting thence to the Naval Training School for diesel engineers at the Madison campus of the University of Wisconsin, for instruction, David ultimately reported for duty at the Naval Training Station, Naval Operating Base, Norfolk, before he traveled to Orange, Texas, to assist in fitting out the destroyer escort USS Pillsbury (DE-133), which was commissioned at the Consolidated Steel Corporation yard on June 7, 1943.

Promoted to lieutenant (jg.) while Pillsbury was fitting out, David served in that ship as she operated in the Atlantic, escorting convoys into Casablanca and Gibraltar, and serving with a "hunter-killer" unit formed around USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60). He was serving as Pillsbury's assistant engineering and electrical officer when Guadalcanal's task group located a German submarine off Cape Blanco, French West Africa, on June 4, 1944, and forced it to the surface.

Pillsbury lowered a boat and sent a party of nine men, led by David, to board the U-boat, soon identified as U-505, which was still underway and running in a circle on the surface. Although he "had every reason to believe" that Germans were still below decks setting demolition charges and scuttling the ship, David led Pillsbury's men on board and down the conning tower hatch, and took possession of the ship. Although he found the sea flooding into the U-boat, David remained below directing the initial salvage operations�??aware that at any moment the submersible could blow up or sink. Men from Guadalcanal arrived soon thereafter to aid in the battle to keep U-505 afloat, and David remained on board directing the salvage operations. As a result of his vigorous and heroic efforts, the valuable prize was eventually taken to Bermuda.

   
Other Comments:


His Medal of Honor citation reads:

"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while attached to the U.S.S. Pillsbury during the capture of an enemy German submarine off French West Africa, June 4, 1944. Taking a vigorous part in the skillfully coordinated attack on the U-505 at the end of a prolonged search by the Task Group, Lt. (then Lt. j.g.) David boldly led a party from the Pillsbury in boarding the hostile submarine as it circled erratically at 5 or 6 knots on the surface. Fully aware that the U-boat might at any moment sink or be blown up by exploding demolition and scuttling charges, he braved the added danger of enemy gunfire to plunge through the conning tower hatch and, with his small party, exerted every effort to keep the ship afloat and to assist the succeeding and more fully equipped salvage parties in making the U-505 seaworthy for the long tow across the Atlantic to a U.S. port. By his valiant service during the first successful boarding and capture of an enemy man-of-war on the high seas by the United States Navy since 1815, Lt. David contributed materially to the effectiveness of the Battle of the Atlantic and upheld the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service."

Promoted to lieutenant soon thereafter, David received the Medal of Honor for his part in the "first successful boarding and capture of an enemy man-of-war on the high seas by the United States Navy since 1815." His was the only Medal of Honor awarded to a member of the Navy in the Atlantic theater of World War II.

He died of a heart attack at Norfolk, Virginia, however, before the medal could be presented to him; it was presented by President Harry S. Truman to David's widow, Lynda Mae David, on October 5, 1945, in a ceremony at the White House.

   

  1931-1939, Break in Service

From Month/Year
- / 1931

To Month/Year
- / 1939

Unit
Break in Service Unit Page

Rank
Midshipman

NEC
Not Specified

Base, Station or City
Not Specified

State/Country
Not Specified
 
 
 Patch
 Break in Service Details

Break in Service

Type
Surface Support
 

Parent Unit
Status - Special Circumstance

Strength
Unit

Created/Owned By
Not Specified
   

Last Updated: Jun 7, 2007
   
   
Yearbook
 
My Photos For This Unit
No Available Photos
93 Members Also There at Same Time
Break in Service

Bradley, Max, CWO2, (1915-1945) [Other Service Rank]
Godfrey, Arthur, CDR, (1920-1966) [Other Service Rank]
Lowry, George Maus, RADM, (1911-1946) [Other Service Rank]
MacMillan, Donald Baxter, RDML, (1918-1954) [Other Service Rank]
Tunney, James Joseph, CAPT, (1918-1945) [Other Service Rank]
Leahy, William Daniel, FADM, (1899-1949) Admiral
Reeves, Joseph Mason, ADM, (1894-1946) Admiral
Standley, William Harrison, ADM, (1895-1945) Admiral
Strauss, Joseph, ADM, (1885-1938) OFF 00X Admiral
Yarnell, Harry Ervin, ADM, (1897-1944) Admiral
Butler, Henry, VADM, (1891-1944) Rear Admiral Upper Half
Cluverius, Wat Tyler, RADM, (1896-1945) Rear Admiral Upper Half
Elliott, Middleton Stuart, VADM, (1896-1942) OFF 210X Rear Admiral Upper Half
Capehart, Wadleigh, CAPT, (1906-1946) Captain
Herbster, Victor Daniel, CAPT, (1908-1946) Captain
McCRARY, Frank, CAPT, (1897-1936) Captain
McNair, Frederick Vallette, CAPT, (1903-1942) OFF 00X Captain
Richardson, Holden Chester, CAPT, (1897-1952) Captain
STEELE, George, CAPT, (1896-1932) Captain
WHITE, Newton, CAPT, (1907-1939) Captain
Zogbaum, Rufus Fairchild, RADM, (1896-1942) Captain
Foster, Paul Frederick, VADM, (1911-1946) 00 00X Commander
Tisdale, Ryland Dillard, CDR, (1911-1942) OFF 00X Commander
Gould, Erl Clinton Barker, RADM, (1917-1953) Lieutenant Commander
Lawler, Robert James, CDR, (1917-1942) 00 210X Lieutenant Commander
Adams, Harry Atherton, LT, (1893-1941) 00 00X Lieutenant
Haviland, Willis Bradley, CDR, (1907-1944) Lieutenant
Ingalls, David Sinton, RADM, (1917-1959) Lieutenant
Mann, Calvin, LT, (1923-1945) OFF 612X Lieutenant
Semple, Robert, LCDR, (1906-1943) OFF 616X Lieutenant
Wead, Frank, CDR, (1916-1944) Lieutenant
SULLIVAN, William, LCDR, (1918-1945) OFF 00X Ensign
Bones, Robert Eugene, F1c, (1935-1944) Other Service Rank
Buck, Kenneth Jennings, PO1, (1921-1943) 00 00E Other Service Rank
FRYE, William, LCDR, (1921-1952) AN Other Service Rank
Galbraith, Sidney Lemuel, S1c, (1917-1944) 00 00E Other Service Rank
Gaul, George, CPO, (1915-1943) 00 00E Other Service Rank
Grove, Thomas Mulligan, PO1, (1943-1945) Other Service Rank
Hopkins, Ralph Wendell, CAPT, (1933-1972) Other Service Rank
Krakosky, Wallace George, PO3, (1933-1943) 00 00E Other Service Rank
Lesinski, Jr., John, AS Other Service Rank
Luke, Vernon Thomas, PO1, (1915-1941) 00 00E Other Service Rank
Quinn, John Patrick, PO3, (1942-1944) Other Service Rank
Schiller, Arnold August, CPO, (1918-1946) 00 00E Other Service Rank
Turner, Lyle, LCDR, (1906-1945) WO WO Boatswain (WO)
PITZER, William, LCDR, (1934-1966) HM HM-8452 Warrant Officer
Greiner, Kenneth Frederick, LTJG, (1935-1942) 00 Naval Aviation Cadet
Eiben, Joseph, CPO, (1913-1945) TM TM-0000 Chief Torpedoman
Graham, Merritt Dayton, CPO, (1918-1942) TM TM-0000 Chief Torpedoman
Bright Hancock, Joy, CAPT, (1918-1953) Chief Petty Officer
Eadie, Thomas, LT, (1905-1946) GM GM-0000 Chief Petty Officer
Gordon, Duff, CPO, (1917-1941) ME ME-0000 Chief Petty Officer
Haag, John Daniel, CPO, (1917-1941) MM MM-0000 Chief Petty Officer
Holcomb, Walter Montee, CPO, (1920-1943) QM QM-0000 Chief Petty Officer
Turner, Walter Kemper, CPO, (1917-1945) YN YN-0000 Chief Petty Officer
Furr, Oscar Harry, PO1, (1919-1942) MM MM-0000 Petty Officer First Class
Johnson, Ole Daniel, CPO, (1932-1942) MM MM-0000 Petty Officer 1st Class
Bidelot, Albert Raphael, PO1, (1935-1943) MM MM-0000 Petty Officer Second Class
Booze, Asbury Legare, PO1, (1928-1941) BM BM-0000 Petty Officer Second Class
Hammerschmidt, Paul, PO1, (1912-1944) MM Petty Officer Second Class

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