Rade Grbitch

He helped his shipmates after a devastating boiler explosion

Rade Grbitch was born on 24 December 1870 in Austria-Hungary and later emigrated to the United States. He later entered the United States Navy. By 1905 he was serving as a seaman aboard the gunboat USS Bennington.

On 21 July 1905 the ship was in San Diego harbour when a boiler exploded. Steam and wreckage devastated spaces inside the vessel, killing and injuring many of the crew. The survivors faced the immediate tasks of rescuing shipmates, helping casualties and bringing the damaged ship under control.

Grbitch's Medal of Honor citation recognised extraordinary heroism during the explosion. It commemorated courage in a naval disaster rather than an engagement with an enemy. Other members of Bennington's crew also received the decoration for their actions that day.

His award was authorised on 5 January 1906. He received the medal aboard USS Chicago in San Diego harbour in April that year. His recognition placed him among the immigrant sailors whose service and bravery formed part of the early twentieth-century Navy.

Grbitch died on 5 March 1910, only a few years after the disaster. He was buried in San Francisco National Cemetery. The Navy's account of the Bennington explosion and his individual award preserve his name alongside those of the shipmates he helped during the emergency.

Official Medal of Honor citation: On board the U.S.S. Bennington, for extraordinary heroism displayed at the time of the explosion of a boiler of that vessel at San Diego, Calif., 21 July 1905.