Henry Breault

Returning below decks to save a trapped shipmate

Henry Breault was born on October 14, 1900, in Putnam, Connecticut. He served as a torpedoman second class in the United States Navy aboard submarine O-5.

On October 28, 1923, in Limon Bay, Panama Canal Zone, O-5 collided with the steamship Abangarez and sank in less than a minute. Breault reached a hatch and could have escaped. Instead, he returned to the torpedo room to help a trapped shipmate, Brown.

The two sailors closed the hatch and watertight door, keeping their compartment from flooding. They remained trapped underwater for 31 hours before a salvage party rescued them. President Calvin Coolidge presented Breault's Medal of Honor at the White House on March 8, 1924.

Breault died on December 5, 1941, in Newport, Rhode Island, and is buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in Putnam. His award commemorates his choice to remain with a shipmate aboard a sinking submarine.

Medal of Honor Citation

For heroism and devotion to duty while serving on board the U.S. submarine 0-5 at the time of the sinking of that vessel. On the morning of 28 October 1923, the 0-5 collided with the steamship Abangarez and sank in less than a minute. When the collision occurred, Breault was in the torpedo room. Upon reaching the hatch, he saw that the boat was rapidly sinking.

Instead of jumping overboard to save his own life, he returned to the torpedo room to the rescue of a shipmate who he knew was trapped in the boat, closing the torpedo room hatch on himself. Breault and Brown remained trapped in this compartment until rescued by the salvage party 31 hours later.