Francis C. Flaherty
United States Navy Medal of Honor recipient (1919–1941)
Francis Charles Flaherty (March 15, 1919 – December 7, 1941) was an officer in the United States Naval Reserve and a recipient of America's highest military decoration — the Medal of Honor. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for helping his crewmates escape the sinking USS Oklahoma (BB-37) at the expense of his own life, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Biography
Francis Flaherty was born on March 15, 1919, in Charlotte, Michigan. He was a parishioner at St. Mary's Catholic Church while living in Charlotte. Flaherty attended Charlotte High School, graduating in 1936, and enrolled at the University of Michigan. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve shortly after graduating from Michigan in July 1940 and was commissioned as an Ensign in December of that year.
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Flaherty was serving on board the USS Oklahoma. The Oklahoma was based at Pearl Harbor for patrols and exercises, and was moored in Battleship Row when the attack began. Almost immediately after the first Japanese bombs fell, the ship was hit by three torpedoes and began to capsize.
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This entry incorporates text from “Francis C. Flaherty” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.