Osmond Ingram

He raced to release depth charges before the torpedo struck.

Osmond Kelly Ingram was born at Pratt City, Alabama, on 4 August 1887. He entered the United States Navy on 24 November 1903 and advanced through the enlisted ratings to gunner's mate first class. By the First World War he was serving aboard USS Cassin, one of the American destroyers operating against submarines in European waters.

On 15 October 1917 Cassin was patrolling off southern Ireland when a German submarine attacked. Ingram saw a torpedo approaching the ship. Realizing that it was likely to strike near the depth charges carried aft, he ran toward them rather than seek safety.

His purpose was to release the charges before the torpedo arrived. Their detonation after a hit could multiply the damage to the destroyer and endanger more of her crew. He reached the stern but had insufficient time to carry out the release. The torpedo struck and killed him, and the depth charges exploded afterward.

Ingram was the first United States Navy enlisted man killed in action during the war. His deliberate attempt to protect Cassin and her crew was recognized with a posthumous Medal of Honor. He left no later service career; his death ended almost fourteen years in the Navy.

His body was not recovered. His name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at Brookwood American Cemetery in England, and a memorial marker stands in Alabama. The destroyer USS Osmond Ingram, commissioned after the war, became the first American warship named for an enlisted sailor. His mother took part in its launching, linking his family directly with the ship that carried his name.

Official Medal of Honor citation

For extraordinary heroism in the presence of the enemy on the occasion of the torpedoing of the Cassin, 15 October 1917. While the Cassin was searching for the submarine, Ingram sighted the torpedo coming, and realizing that it might strike the ship aft in the vicinity of the depth charges, ran aft with the intention of releasing the depth charges before the torpedo could reach the Cassin. The torpedo struck the ship before he could accomplish his purpose, and Ingram was killed by the explosion. The depth charges exploded immediately afterward. His life was sacrificed in an attempt to save the ship and his shipmates, as the damage to the ship would have been much less if he had been able to release the depth charges.