William Adolphus Crouse

Facing heat and steam during a boiler failure

William Adolphus Crouse earned the Medal of Honor aboard USS Concord off Cavite, Manila Bay, on May 21, 1898. A watertender during the Spanish-American War, he worked in the hot, vapor-filled fireroom after a boiler joint blew out.

Crouse hauled the boiler fires while water was directed into the fireroom from a hose. His citation recognizes service during a dangerous shipboard machinery failure.

Born in Fannettsburg, Pennsylvania, on October 22, 1866, Crouse later attained the rank of chief commissary steward. He died in Harrisburg on June 27, 1941, and is buried at Arlington Cemetery in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania.

Medal of Honor citation

On board the U.S.S. Concord off Cavite, Manila Bay, P.I., 21 May 1898. Following the blowing-out of a lower manhole plate joint on boiler B of that vessel, Crouse hauled the fires in the hot, vapor-filled atmosphere, which necessitated the playing of water into the fireroom from a hose.