Rear Adm. Samuel G. Fuqua; Arizona Hero
Rear Adm. Samuel G. Fuqua of Atlanta, who received the Medal of Honor for heroism at Pearl Harbor and whose story helped build the battleship Arizona Memorial, has died at 87.
Fuqua died Tuesday at the Veterans Administration Medical Center here after suffering several strokes.
He was the oldest of four living recipients of the Medal of Honor for heroic actions at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. As a lieutenant commander aboard the Arizona, Fuqua acted “with utter disregard of his own safety,” according to his Medal of Honor citation.
More than 1,000 men were killed when the battleship was hit by a torpedo. Fuqua was knocked down and stunned but regained consciousness and directed rescue operations.
After Fuqua’s appearance on the “This Is Your Life” program in 1958, show host Ralph Edwards appealed to viewers to send contributions for a memorial honoring the Arizona dead. The Arizona Memorial opened in 1962, with the sunken battleship designated a national cemetery.
Fuqua retired from the Navy in 1953.
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