U.S. Navy Lieutenant Albert Leroy David of Maryville, Missouri, was awarded two Navy Crosses and the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary actions on June 4, 1944, off the coast of French West Africa.
David enlisted in the Navy in September 1919 and was transferred to the Fleet Reserve in August 1939. He was recalled to active duty a month later, in September 1939, following the outbreak of WWII in Europe.
In 1943 David served on the USS Pillsbury (DE-133) as it operated in the Atlantic, escorting convoys into Casablanca and Gibraltar and serving with a “hunter-killer” unit formed around USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60).
He was serving as Pillsbury’s assistant engineering and electrical officer when Guadalcanal’s task group located a German submarine off Cape Blanco, French West Africa, on June 4, 1944, and forced it to the surface.
Pillsbury lowered a boat and sent a party of nine men, led by David, to board the U-boat, soon identified as a U-505. David led Pillsbury’s men on board and took possession of the ship.
Although he found the sea flooding into the U-boat, David remained below, directing the initial salvage operations, aware that the submersible could blow up or sink at any moment. Men from Guadalcanal arrived soon after that to aid in the battle to keep the U-505 afloat, and David remained on board, directing the salvage operations.
Promoted to lieutenant soon after that, David received the Medal of Honor for his part in capturing the U-boat. His was the only Medal of Honor awarded to a member of the Navy in the Atlantic theater of WWII.
David died of a heart attack in 1945 before he could be awarded the medal.
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