TFH 11/6: ENS Kenneth H. Muir, USNR

The SS Nathaniel Hawthorne was a Liberty-type cargo ship. On November 6, 1942 - 70 years ago today - she was sailing into the Caribbean Sea with a load of bauxite, a key raw material for the manufacture and smelting of aluminum, when she was torpedoed by the Nazi Type IX submarine U-508.

On-board the Hawthorne, the officer-in-charge of the United States Navy armed guard, Ensign Kenneth H. Muir, USNR of New York, placed the lives of his sailors and the civilian merchant mariners above his own as the ship went down. His courage and devotion to duty led to the posthumous award of the Navy Cross.


From Military Times' Hall of Valor:

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Ensign Kenneth H. Muir, United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Officer in Charge of the United States Navy Armed Guard on board the S.S. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, destroyed in the Caribbean Sea by enemy torpedoes on 6 November 1942. In the glow of salt water flares that lighted up the stern of the sinking ship, Ensign Muir, disregarding his own severe injuries and great suffering, ordered the three men near him to leap clear of the ship and then rushed back to help more of his men to escape. He was still urging his gunners over the side when the ship went down. His conduct throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the Navy of the United States. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

Ensign Muir's body was not recovered. He rests today with his ship, and with the other brave men who died with her. He was 26 years old.