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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

LST-311

Navy Cross Citation

COLEMAN, ROBERT LOUIS
Lieutenant, U.S. Navy Reserve
Commanding Officer, U.S.S. LST 311
Date of Action: July 10, 1943
Citation:
The Navy Cross is presented to Robert Louis Coleman, Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, for extraordinary heroism as Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. LST 311 during the amphibious assault on Sicily, July 10, 1943. When another landing ship was struck by an aerial bomb off the beach near Gela, Lieutenant Commander Coleman, observing the ignition of a cargo of ammunition loaded on trucks, unhesitatingly brought his own vessel close aboard and fought desperately to help control the rapid spread of the flames. Forced to withdraw when his own ship became imperiled by exploding shells and realizing that the fire was inextinguishable, he returned shortly afterward, placed the bow of the LST 311 alongside the stern of the stricken vessel and rescued forty men who otherwise might have been lost.
Birth: 8/28/1913 - New Philadelphia, OH
Home Town: New Philadelphia, OH

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