Floyd Welch, 99, a U.S. Navy veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor, passed away peacefully at his home in Connecticut on Aug. 17. Besides his role as the beloved patriarch of his family, Welch is being remembered for an act of immense bravery during the raid on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
Welch’s courageous actions contributed to the rescue of 33 sailors.
![(Screenshot/<a href="https://www.dvidshub.net/video/495520/attack-uss-oklahoma">Petty Officer 2nd Class Lyle Wilkie/DVIDSHUB</a>)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F08%2F20%2FET-veteran2.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
On Dec. 7, 1941, a date that would later go down in history books, a then-20-year-old Welch was working as an electrician’s mate on board the battleship USS Maryland. He had Navy combat training in damage control and repair.
The battleship’s alarm system began to sound; most crew members, Welch admitted, thought at that time that it was a drill. However it, quickly transpired that this was a very real, and potentially catastrophic, emergency.
![An explosion at the Naval Air Station on Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, during the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941 (Fox Photos/Getty Images)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F08%2F20%2FET-ship2.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
The ship Welch was working on was one of seven and was harbored next to the USS Oklahoma. The Oklahoma began to sink fast after a succession of direct hits from Japanese torpedoes.
A number of sailors were trapped below deck; that is when Welch’s “damage control” training kicked into immediate action.
![(Screenshot/<a href="https://www.dvidshub.net/video/495520/attack-uss-oklahoma">Petty Officer 2nd Class Lyle Wilkie/DVIDSHUB</a>)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F08%2F20%2FET-veteran3.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
“When we could see the planes coming, we would try to find cover,” he recalled. Welch and his comrades, between the deafening bombs, listened for the tapping of the trapped sailors on the other side of the steel plates and cut holes accordingly.
Welch and his fellow crew members worked for days. “In all,” he said, “I believe 33 men from the Oklahoma were rescued through these holes.”
![The remains of the destroyers USS Downes and USS Cassin in front of the battleship USS Pennsylvania at Pearl Harbor, pictured in December 1941 (Fox Photos/Getty Images)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F08%2F20%2FET-ship3.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
However, helping save almost three-dozen men at Pearl Harbor was not the only major contribution Welch made in the war effort.
To round off the decorated Navy veteran’s impressive list of accolades, he was also awarded the United States Navy Constitution Medal after the war.
Besides starting a family, Welch also explored a number of vocational avenues. He worked as an alarm installer, a farmer, and a milkman. He then went on to start his own construction company, Welch & Son, serving much of the northeastern United States.
Today, Welch is remembered, both by his family and by his country, as a hero.