June 3, 1893 – May 7, 1941 ( 47) Peter Tomich

The Peter Tomich story begins with his birth on June 3, he realized the engine room had not yet been secured. He 1893 in present day Prolog, Austria, then a small village of remained in the boiler room to ensure that every one of his the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Later, “navy family” could evacuate safely. He orphaned and without family, Peter and was still at his station when the ship’s his cousin John went looking for a better mooring lines snapped as the ship rolled life. The two boys somehow found their over and sank, taking 58 crew members way illegally into the in with her. 1912. Five years later, with the U.S. entry Because Tomich’s only address was into World War 1, Peter chose to enlist, “U.S. Navy”, a search for Peter’s cousin, even though it meant fighting against John, produced no family member his former homeland. As a reward, his to receive its nation’s highest award. new adopted homeland granted him The Navy would hold the medal until citizenship following the war at the end after the war when, in 1947, the U.S. of his U.S. Army enlistment. Upon his government approached Utah’s governor discharge, Tomich promptly reenlisted, Herbert B. Maws to formally adopt only this time with the U.S. Navy. It Peter Tomich as his “son”. This would seems he had finally found a home Chief Watertender (today called Chief Petty then make Tomich an honorary citizen Officer First Class), Peter Tomich was a 47 roaming the world as a Navy man. year old naval noncommissioned officer who of Utah. The medal remained on display The Japanese attack on the morning posthumously received the for at the Utah state capital until 1951, of December 7, 1941 caught the crew of his actions at Pearl Harbor during World War then at the Utah Historical Society II. Because of his “distinguished conduct and the USS Utah by surprise, without the extraordinary courage,” many lives were saved on until 1963 when it was returned to the capability of even defending themselves. that fateful morning of May 7, 1941. Navy for display at the Navy Museum in As a converted target ship, all guns had Washington D.C. been removed from USS Utah. Chief Watertender Tomich The medal saga doesn’t end there. Read the concluding was preparing to leave the Utah with the rest of the crew when chapter of this medal’s final journey home at our web site. USS Utah Memorial

The USS Utah, a Case of Mistaken Identity The Battleship USS Utah was commissioned on August 31, 1911. Her glory days had come to an end by 1931 when the aging ship was de-commissioned as a battleship, stripped of all of her guns, and then converted to the status of a lowly target ship. On the morning of December 7, 1941 The Big “U,” as she had been named during better days, was anchored where three aircraft carriers normally moored. Apparently mistaken as a key target, she received two of the first torpedoes during the . The three missing aircraft carriers that were strangelly absent on that fateful morning were USS Enterprise, Lexington and Saratoga. Medal of Honor

http://legacyofliberty.com/ The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pleasure in presenting The Medal of Honor to

PETER TOMICH

For distinguished conduct in the line of his profession, and extraordinary courage and disregard of his own safety, during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor by the Japanese forces on 7 December 1941. Although realizing that the ship was capsizing, as a result of enemy bombing and torpedoing, Tomich remained at his post in the engineering plant of the U.S.S. Utah, until he saw that all boilers were secured and all fireroom personnel had left their stations, and by so doing lost his own life.