WHEREAS, the U. S. Congress has designated the 25th Day of March of each year to be observed as “National Medal of Honor Day,” whereon Americans are asked to pay tribute to those who have received the nation’s highest military award, the Congressional Medal of Honor; and

WHEREAS, the Medal of Honor was America’s first military award for valor and was established by a Joint Resolution of Congress on July 12, 1862, during the Civil War; and

WHEREAS, the award is recommended and awarded by the military, but is presented by a high official—usually the President of the United States—in the name of the Congress of the United States, hence the name; and

WHEREAS, the criteria for this award are stringent, requiring a minimum of two eyewitnesses to the action, with the person having voluntarily performed the deed at risk of his own life, and having done so in such a way that he outstandingly displays conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity, above and beyond the call of duty; and

WHEREAS, Medal of Honor recipients are traditionally accredited to particular states of the union, with Delaware having thus far had 14 Medal of Honor recipients accredited to it, including nine during the Civil War, one for the Indian Wars, one for the Spanish–American War, one for the Philippine Insurrection and two for World War II, and

WHEREAS, a 15th Delawarean, Ensign Henry Clay Drexler, received the Medal of Honor posthumously for heroic action aboard the U. S. Naval vessel, the U.S.S. Trenton, off the coast of Virginia in 1924, but, even though he was a legal resident of Bethany Beach, Delaware, at the time, was accredited to Pennsylvania, where he was born in the town of Braddock in 1902; and

WHEREAS, Ensign Drexler, a member of the U. S. Naval Academy Class of 1924, sacrificed his life on the 20th Day of October, 1924, in an explosion on the cruiser, U.S.S. Trenton, which was then conducting maneuvers off the Virginia coast; and

WHEREAS, when gunpowder bags for the left gun in the turret had spontaneously ignited during the afternoon gunnery exercise, trapping 20 men, Ensign Drexler acted “without thought of his own safety” by diving for the right gun and trying to dump its power into a water immersion tank to prevent further deaths but before he was able to do so, the charge exploded, killing him instantly; and

WHEREAS, the explosions killed four men immediately, including Ensign Drexler himself, and severely injured 16 others, of whom 10 later died of their injuries; and

WHEREAS, Ensign Drexler was immediately awarded posthumously the Navy Cross, the Navy’s second highest award for valor, and, by a special Act of Congress some nine years later, in 1933, sponsored by then Delaware Congressman Robert G. Houston of Georgetown, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, which was later presented to his family by then President Herbert Hoover; and

WHEREAS, Ensign Drexler is one of only 193 recipients of the Medal of Honor to have received it for actions during peacetime, his heroic action having occurred before Congress took action in 1963 to ensure that subsequently the Medal of Honor could only be awarded for hostile action; and

WHEREAS, Ensign Drexler is the only Sussex Countian ever to have been awarded the medal; and

WHEREAS, he was the younger of the two sons of Louis A. Drexler, Sr., and his wife, Elizabeth Mills Clay Drexler, both natives of the Pittsburgh area who had moved to the newly established town of Bethany Beach in 1904, being among the leading members of the Christian Church, the denomination which was instrumental in the establishment of the town, building there an imposing home which is still standing; and

WHEREAS, the elder Mr. Drexler, a Progressive Republican in the Theodore Roosevelt mold, was elected to the Delaware State Senate to represent Sussex County’s south coastal area in 1908, and ran unsuccessfully for the U. S. Congress as a Bull Moose Progressive in the 1912 election; and

WHEREAS, Senator and Mrs. Drexler later moved to Camden, Kent County, Delaware, where Mr. Drexler was elected to serve in the Delaware House of Representatives in 1926 and 1927, later serving as a member of the Kent County Draft Board during World War II; and

WHEREAS, the elder of the two Drexler sons, Louis A. Drexler, Jr., born at Braddock, Pennsylvania, in 1899, graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy with the Class of 1923, followed a year later by his brother, Henry Clay; and

WHEREAS, both Drexler brothers were listed in the U. S. Naval Academy yearbooks as being residents of Bethany Beach, Delaware during their years at the academy; and

WHEREAS, during the massive expansion of the U. S. fleet during World War II, the U. S. Navy named a destroyer in honor Henry Drexler, built at the Bath, Maine, Iron Works shipyard and christened the U. S. S. Drexler, DD 741, during ceremonies held on 4 September 1944, with Ensign Drexler’s mother breaking a bottle of champagne over the ship’s bow in the presence of her husband and surviving son and other guests; and

WHEREAS, Commander Louis Drexler, Jr., who had remained in the U. S. Navy, was, by 1945, the captain of the LST U.S.S. Mount McKinley (LST 918) during the Okinawa campaign in May of that year, in which the destroyer named for his younger brother also took part; and

WHEREAS, on May 12, 1945, Commander Drexler and one of his men, Signalman First Class Douglas F. Barkell, had gone ashore on the island of Kerama Retto, which was being used as a staging area for the assault on Okinawa, where they were ambushed and killed by some Japanese troops remaining on the island; and

WHEREAS, during the same battle and in that same month of May, 1945, the destroyer, U. S. S. Drexler, was lost to a Japanese kamikaze attack, thus bringing to a tragic end the remarkable sacrifices of Delaware’s Drexler family on behalf of their country; and

WHEREAS, because Medal of Honor recipient Ensign Drexler has always been accredited as being among the 378 recipients from the State of Pennsylvania, and not one of the 15 recipients from the State of Delaware, he has never been accorded the full honor due to his memory within the State of Delaware, although his actual medal of honor and other memorabilia, including his naval sword and dress hat, were given by the Drexler family to the Delaware State Museum in 1956 and are now on display at the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover Air Force Base; and

WHEREAS, the Delaware General Assembly does not wish to detract from or belittle Ensign Drexler’s connection with the State of Pennsylvania, where he was born and where the Drexler family maintained many connections; it does seek to ensure that this young hero should henceforth be honored as well in the state where he resided during much of his life and where his parents continued to reside for the remainder of their lives;

NOW, THEREFORE:

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 145th General Assembly of the State of Delaware, with the approval of the Governor, that Senators Thomas R. Carper and Edward E. Kaufman and Representative Michael N. Castle are hereby respectfully requested to take such action as may be necessary to have Ensign Henry Clay Drexler accredited jointly to the States of Pennsylvania and Delaware as a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor so that he may receive the honor due his memory in both states.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the memory of the heroism and sacrifice of both Ensign Henry Clay Drexler and his brother, Commander Louis A. Drexler, Jr., be given a permanent place of honor in the pages of Delaware History.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that suitable copies of this Senate Joint Resolution be forwarded to Senators Carper and Kaufman and Representative Castle upon its enactment.

SPONSOR:	Sen. Bunting & Rep. Hocker