Harvey Emerson Oswald was born on 11 September 1918 in Columbus, Ohio. He enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve in April 1938. Discharged from the reserve at his own request on 3 August 1939, he enlisted in the U. S. Navy the same day. Assigned the following December to as a Machinist Mate, Second Class. During the Japanese attack on Darwin, Australia, on 19 February 1942 he manned a .50 caliber machine gun on a PBY Catalina airplane to fire on the Japanese and was killed in the attack. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star.