Medal of Honor winner remembered as "humble hero"

Funeral services are pending in Washington state for former Norman resident Richard M. McCool Jr., a former Navy lieutenant who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1945.

McCool, 86, died last Wednesday at Harrison Medical Center in Bremeton, Wash.

McCool was one of only two Celveland County residents to earn the award — the second, Major John Lucian Smith of Lexington.

A native of Tishomingo, McCool graduated from the University of Oklahoma, then at 19, earned an appointment to the Naval Academy in 1944.

After graduating from the academy, he was placed in charge of the Navy transport ship USS Landing Craft Support 122.

The ship — similar in looks to a landing craft which brought soldiers ashore, but heavily armed with machine guns and rockets — was used to protect Naval destroyers.

On June 10, 1944, McCool’s ship was attacked while in Okinawa.

According to the book “Medal of Honor, Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty,” McCool rescued 99 crew members of the USS William D. Porter after the Porter was attacked by a Japanese Kamikaze.

The next day, Kamikaze planes attacked McCool's ship.

McCool’s crew blew one Kamikaze out of the sky and gunners hit a second, but that plane crashed into the 122, about 8 feet below the conning tower.

Of the 71 crew members on board, 12 were killed and 23 injured, including McCool, who suffered shrapnel wounds, burns and was knocked unconscious.

“When he came to, the conning tower was on fire,” author Peter Collier wrote. “He managed to get down to the main deck, and acting instinctively — he would remember almost nothing of the ensuing events — he rallied his crew to fight the fire that threatened to engulf the ship.”

As they attempted to save his ship, McCool learned that “several men were trapped in the burning deckhouse” and “went in to rescue them, carrying one of them to safety on his back, despite his burns.”

McCool continued to command his ship until he collapsed.

Because of his actions, he was awarded the Medal of Honor “for saving the lives of many” and for “saving his ship for further combat service” by then-President Harry Truman.

Created in 1861 by act of Congress, the Medal of Honor is the highest military award for bravery in the United States. It is traditionally awarded only to members of the armed forces for valor and/or self-sacrifice above and beyond the call of duty while in combat.

Since 1863, only 3,456 Americans have received the medal, incuding 28 from Oklahoma.

In a story published in the Kitsap Sun, McCool’s friends remember him an a “humble hero.”

“He was the most humble of men,” Fran Moyer, a friend of McCool’s, told the paper. “He did not ever want to be invited to a parade or anything like that because he could never think about himself as being a hero. The heroes were the men who gave their lives.”

After recovering, McCool returned to Norman, then returned to active duty service in mid-1946. He served in the Korean and Vietman wars and retired as a Navy captain in 1974.

That same year, McCool and his wife, Carole Elaine, moved to Bainbridge Island in Washington.

Active in politics, McCool served as chairman of the Kitsap County Democrats.

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Carol Elaine; one daughter, Carolyn McCool of Vancouver, British Columbia; and two sons, Rick of Gig Harbor, Wash., and John, of Indianola, Wash.