Frederick D. Mann

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal to Frederick D. Mann, Boatswain’s Mate First Class, U.S. Coast Guard, for conspicuous gallantry while attached to the U.S.S. GEORGE F. ELLIOTT (AP-13) in action against Japanese forces off Guadalcanal on 8 August 1942. When a hostile plane was shot down and exploded on board the ship, transforming the ship into a blazing torch, Boatswain’s Mate First Class Mann carried a fire hose into the troop ammunition magazine to flood the compartment. Subsequently, despite suffocating smoke and dangerously heated bulkheads, he reentered the compartment, recovered the hose and continued his efforts. His action prevented the magazine from exploding.