George Robert Cholister

He tried to save trapped shipmates by moving burning powder.

George Robert Cholister was born on December 18, 1898, in Camden, New Jersey. He served as a boatswain's mate first class in the United States Navy aboard USS Trenton.

He enlisted in the Navy in April 1916. During the First World War he served on a submarine in the North Sea and later aboard the destroyer USS Fanning. He also served in China and Japan before joining Trenton.

On October 20, 1924, off Virginia, powder charges ignited in the ship's forward twin gun mount during preparations for trial firing. Twenty men were trapped. Cholister tried to place a threatened powder charge into an immersion tank before the flames reached it. The fire spread before he could complete the attempt, and he lost consciousness while trying to protect his shipmates.

Cholister died the following day. He received a posthumous Medal of Honor, with the presentation recorded on February 3, 1933. He is buried at Colestown Cemetery in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. His award commemorates an attempt to prevent further disaster during a fatal shipboard emergency.

Medal of Honor Citation

For extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession on the occasion of a fire on board the U.S.S. Trenton. At 3:35 on the afternoon of 20 October 1924, while the Trenton was preparing to fire trial installation shots from the two 6-inch guns in the forward twin mount of that vessel, two charges of powder ignited. Twenty men were trapped in the twin mount. Four died almost immediately and 10 later from burns and inhalation of flames and gases. The six others were severely injured.

Cholister, without thought of his own safety, on seeing that the charge of powder from the left gun was ignited, jumped for the right charge and endeavored to put it in the immersion tank. The left charge burst into flame and ignited the right charge before Cholister could accomplish his purpose. He fell unconscious while making a supreme effort to save his shipmates and died the following day.