Only the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross rank higher. He did so in an active combat zone, with floating debris, and, as a presidential citation reads, in “shark-infested waters.”ĭownie was awarded the Silver Star for his actions, the third highest naval decoration for valor. However, Downie went into the water to save some of these people, physically bringing lines to them. Records indicate many Hornet sailors in the water were thrown life preservers on ropes and pulled to the Mustin. After Japanese aircraft crippled the Hornet, the Mustin was among the naval vessels that came to the aid of the carrier’s sailors. Downie served aboard the Sims-class destroyer Mustin, an escort of the Hornet.
Hornet near those islands by swimming lifelines out to them. More than 80 years ago, Owen Stuart Downie, a Vineyard Haven–born seaman, saved crewmembers of the burning, sinking aircraft carrier U.S.S. Harding said in part, “There are many men and women serving today, in all branches of the military, here at home, and in places far away that most of us have never heard of …” On the wall near where the pastor spoke, amid all sorts of Legion memorabilia, hung the citation of a sailor who served his county in a place that perhaps many Americans have never heard of - the Santa Cruz Islands of the South Pacific.
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