Appointed to the Naval Academy as a midshipman 5 September 1896, he graduated in June 1900, and was ordered to the Asiatic station in gunboat Mariveles. The morning of 26 October 1901 Midshipman Noa, with an armed crew of six men, put off from Mariveles in a small boat to watch for craft engaged in smuggling contraband from the island of Leyte to Samar. When ready to return to Mariveles, they found the wind and the tide against them. As the boat was taking on water, they put into a small cove on the island of Samar. While scouting the adjacent jungle, Noa was attacked and stabbed four times by Filipino insurgents. He died before aid could reach him.
Source: Naval Historical Center, DANFS.