Saturday, November 9, 2024 | 11
HONORING OUR VETERANS
Omaha’s WWII ‘Hero of the Solomons’ honored
STEVE LIEWER Omaha World-Herald
Navy mess steward Charles Jackson French’s valor won him widespread ac- claim as one of the true heroes of World War II. The sailor from Omaha was lauded as the “Hero of the Solomon Islands” af- ter swimming for hours through shark- infested waters, towing a life raft full of wounded shipmates to safety after their destroyer was sunk by a Japanese bom- bardment near Guadalcanal on Sept. 5, 1942. But after the war, his name was forgot- ten. He died in obscurity in 1956, of alco- holism related to post-traumatic stress, according to family members. More than eight decades later, a new generation is honoring French, who was Black, for his bravery. A training pool at a Navy base in San Diego was named in his memory in 2022, when he was post- humously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, the branch’s highest award for noncombat valor. Last January, the Navy announced that
CHRIS MACHIAN , THE WORLD-HERALD Chester French Jr. speaks at a ceremony Oct. 4 as a plaque at 6223 Maple St. is dedicated at a post office named after his uncle, Charles Jackson French, in Omaha.
a not-yet-built destroyer will carry his name when it is commissioned in 2031. French’s story is being told again as a leading figures in a new book by Carole Engle Avriett, “Midnight in Ironbottom Sound,” about the sinking of his ship, the USS Gregory.
And a new historical marker in Ben- son, dedicated Oct. 4, tells the story of his heroics. It stands at the corner of 63rd and Maple streets — right in front of the “Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Jackson French Post Office,” named in his honor two years ago by an act of Congress.
FILE PHOTO Charles Jackson French with his sister, Viola, being honored at a Creighton University football game upon his heroic return on Oct. 31, 1942.
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