Peter Tomich

Peter Tomich

Peter Tomich (* 3. June 1893 in the prologue at Ljubuški , Herzegovina , Austria-Hungary as Petar Herceg , Called Name : Tonic ; † 7. December 1941 in Pearl Harbor ) was a sailor of the US Navy with Croatian ancestry . He received posthumously the Medal of Honor , the highest military decoration of the United States Government .

Life

Tomich emigrated in 1913 in the United States and entered in 1917 during the First World War in the US Army one. Ten days after the end of his service, he joined the US Navy in 1921.

During the Second World War Tomich served as Chief Water Tender on the battleship USS Utah . During the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in 1941, the ship received several heavy torpedo hits on the hull . Tomich returned to his post in the boiler room to evacuate the ship of personnel and prevented the boilers from exploding before the ship sank. He sacrificed his own life so that his shipmates could save themselves.

Front and (engraved) back of Peter Tomich's Medal of Honor .

Tomich was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously:

“For outstanding conduct in the exercise of his profession and extraordinary courage in disregard of his own safety during the attack by Japanese troops on the fleet in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Although he recognized that the ship capsized as a result of enemy bombardment and torpedoes, but Tomich stayed at his post in the technical facility of the USS Utah until he saw that all the boilers were secured and all the firebox personnel had left their stations and lost his own life in the process. "

Initially, no relatives could be identified who could receive Tomich's Medal of Honor for him. The destroyer escort USS Tomich was named after him as early as 1943 and the Medal of Honor was symbolically presented to the ship. When the destroyer was decommissioned after the war ended, the governor of Utah made the late Tomich an honorary citizen and the medal was displayed at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City .

On May 18, 2006, the commander of the US Naval Forces Europe Admiral Henry Ulrich finally presented Tomich's Medal of Honor to his next living relative Srećko Herceg [Tonić] (* 1970) on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in the Croatian port city of Split . Srećko Herceg is a multiple award - winning lieutenant colonel in the Croatian Army and the grandson of Tomić's cousin John Tonić , who also emigrated to the United States.

Afterlife

• The destroyer escort USS Tomich (1943–1974) was named after Peter Tomich.
• The United States Navy Senior Enlisted Academy in Newport, Rhode Island is named Tomich Hall in his honor .
• The Steam Propulsion Training Facility at Service School Command Great Lakes is named after Tomich.
• The conference room at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services headquarters in Washington, DC is called the Peter Tomich Conference Center .

In the media

In 2018, Croatian TV HRT produced the 52-minute documentary Heroji se ne zaboravljaju (Heroes are not forgotten) through Tomich . It was directed by Ištvan Filaković and the music was composed by the American-Croatian musician Nenad Bach . The premiere of the film is to take place on the 77th anniversary of Tomich's death , December 7, 2018, in the House of the Croatian Armed Forces in Zagreb . The Croatian radio orchestra under the conductor Olja Dešić will play the film music.

Web links

• TOMICH, PETER. Congressional Medal of Honor Society, accessed on November 7, 2018 (English, award text). 
• Navy Chief Watertender Peter Tomich - World War II. US Department of Homeland Security, June 29, 2011, accessed November 6, 2018 . 

literature

• John Hagan: Chief Petty Officer's Guide . Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2004, ISBN 1-59114-459-0 , pp. 435 f .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Ben Young: APc-48 ...: An investigation into the whereabouts and purpose of an US Navy Small Coastal Transport during the Pacific War, and a discussion of supply and locistics during a time of war ... Truckman Publishing, 2017, ISBN 978-1-365-87385-0 , pp. 79 : "Peter Tomich, born Petar Herceg Tonić (Tonić being a family nickname), a Bosnian Croat"
2. ^ Peter Collier: Medal of Honor: Regular Version . 3. Edition. Artisan Books, 2011, ISBN 978-1-57965-662-1 , pp. 19 : "Peter Tomich, a Croatian born"
3. ↑ Bob Dole (Ed.): TIME: Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941 . Time Inc. Books, 2016, ISBN 978-1-68330-502-6 : "an ethnic Croat"
4. ↑ Adopted Valor: Immigrant Heroes Foreign Born Medal of Honor Recipients Chief Watertender Peter Tomich - WWII . In: US Citizenship and Immigration Service (Ed.): USCIS Monthly . February 2008, p. 4 ( online [PDF]).
5. ↑ Award text s. Web links
6. ^ Ron Owens: Medal of Honor: Historical Facts & Figures . Turner Publishing Company, 2004, ISBN 978-1-56311-995-8 , PETER TOMICH, p. 134 .
7. ^ Peter Collier: Medal of Honor: Regular Version . 3. Edition. Artisan Books, 2011, ISBN 978-1-57965-662-1 , pp. 19 .
8. ^ Jason Thompson: Medal of Honor Presented to Family in Croatia. United States European Command, accessed November 7, 2018 . 
9. ^ Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Department of the Navy - Naval Historical Center, accessed November 9, 2018 . 
10. ↑ ^{a b} Navy Chief Water Tender Peter Tomich - World War II | USCIS. Uscis.gov, accessed November 9, 2018 . 
11. ↑ Heroji se ne zaboravljaju. HRT.hr, November 27, 2018, accessed December 2, 2018 . 
12. ↑ SVEČANA PROMOCIJA DOCUMENTARY FILMA. HRT.hr, November 30, 2018, accessed December 2, 2018 .