Osmond Kelly Ingram was born at Pratt City, Alabama on 4 August 1887 and joined the Navy on 24 November 1903.
Naval History & Heritage Command photo NH 1876.
Gunner's Mate Osmond Ingram.
As Gunner’s Mate First Class, he was serving in Cassin on 15 October 1917 when she was attacked by German submarine U-61 about 20 miles off Mine Head, southeast of Queenstown, Ireland.
Sighting an approaching torpedo and realizing it would strike near the stern and possibly doom his ship, he rushed aft to jettison the ship’s depth charges. The torpedo hit before he could complete the job, however, blowing him overboard.
Gunner’s Mate Ingram was the first US Navy enlisted man killed in action in World War I, and also the first for whom a ship was named. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor as follows:
CITATION:
For extraordinary heroism in the presence of the enemy on the occasion of the torpedoing of the
Cassin, on 15 October 1917. While the
Cassin was searching for the submarine, Ingram sighted the torpedo coming, and realizing that it might strike the ship aft in the vicinity of the depth charges, ran aft with the intention of releasing the depth charges before the torpedo could reach the
Cassin. The torpedo struck the ship before he could accomplish his purpose and Ingram was killed by the explosion. The depth charges exploded immediately afterward. His life was sacrificed in an attempt to save the ship and his shipmates, as the damage to the ship would have been much less if he had been able to release the depth charges.
