Watson, George

Impact on the world

When the Army-chartered Dutch steamer s'Jacob was struck by Japanese bombers near Porlock Harbor, New Guinea, on March 8, 1943, and the order to abandon ship was given, Watson — a strong swimmer — repeatedly swam back to the sinking vessel and ferried soldiers who could not swim, including a friend, to life rafts and wreckage, saving a dozen or more men before he was pulled under by the ship's suction and drowned; his body was never recovered. He became the first African American serviceman honored for valor in World War II, receiving the Distinguished Service Cross in June 1943, and in 1997 — as part of the same review that recognized Vernon Baker and Edward Carter, already profiled in this collection — his award was upgraded to the Medal of Honor, accepted on his behalf by Sergeant Major of the Army Gene C. McKinney since no family members were available to attend the White House ceremony.

Life & background

Born March 14, 1914, in Laurel, Mississippi, and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Watson earned his degree from Colorado Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Colorado State University) in 1942 before being drafted into the Army that September and assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 29th Quartermaster Regiment — a support unit reflecting the era's restriction of most Black soldiers to non-combat roles. He was married with a young stepdaughter at the time of his death. His Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross are displayed at the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum in Fort Lee (now Fort Gregg-Adams), Virginia; he is memorialized at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines, at a namesake field at Fort Benning, Georgia, and through the USNS Watson, a Navy sealift ship named in his honor in 1997.

Sources

1. National Park Service; National WWII Museum; U.S. Army Quartermaster Foundation