Ensign Herbert C. Jones was stationed aboard the USS California battleship during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Jones had just taken over for the junior officer of the deck when the attack was launched.
After a torpedo damaged the mechanical hoist that loaded the ship's anit-aircraft guns, Jones led a group of sailors to deliver the ammunition by hand.
Jones was in a compartment on the third deck passing ammo up a ladder to the gun battery when a bomb struck the second deck, injuring him critically.
The Nevada was taking on water, and threatened with catching fire from burning oil in the water, when an abandoned ship order was given.
Two sailors carried Jones up from the compartment, which had caught fire, but at one point, got stuck.
“Leave me alone! I’m done for. Get out of here before the magazines go off,” Jones said.
Marine Corps Pvt. Howard Haynes, who had been confined when the attack was launched, later credited Jones with saving his life.
“God, give me a chance to prove I’m worth it,” Haynes said.
Jones was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
Source: Defense Department, "Pearl Harbor: Why, How, Fleet Savage and Final Appraisal"