Percy A. Decker

Distracting a concealed rifleman, he protected his comrades.

Percy Austin Decker was born in New York on 4 August 1890. He entered the United States Navy and was serving as a boatswain's mate second class in the battleship USS Florida when American forces occupied Veracruz, Mexico, in April 1914.

On 21 April, fighting developed around the waterfront buildings. Ensign George Lowry called for volunteers to enter an alley between the customs house and an open warehouse from which Mexican troops were firing. Decker took up a position behind the party as Lowry and five volunteers moved forward.

When Lowry stepped back to call an ambulance party for a fallen man, a Mexican soldier rose from concealment behind boxes in the warehouse and aimed towards the ensign and the volunteers. Decker drew the rifleman's attention to himself and shot him. This immediate response protected the exposed party during a confused and dangerous phase of the landing.

The Navy awarded him the Medal of Honor for his conduct during the seizure of Veracruz. Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels presented it on 6 January 1915 aboard Florida at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Decker continued his naval career after the action, eventually becoming a commissioned officer and attaining the rank of lieutenant.

He died on 18 August 1936, aged forty-six, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His Medal of Honor record preserves the specific encounter described in the naval order, alongside the shorter formal citation that recognised his extraordinary heroism at Veracruz.