Edward A . Gisburne Edward Allen " Eddie " Gisburne ( June 14 , 1892 – August 29 , 1955 ) was a United States Navy officer and a recipient of the U . S . military ' s highest decoration , the Medal of Honor , for his role in the battle which began the U . S . occupation of Veracruz , Mexico . He earned the medal as an enlisted man for ignoring heavy fire and his own severe injuries to drag a wounded marine to safety . Although he lost his left leg in the fight , he went on to complete two more terms of service with the Navy , one as a radio operator during World War I and another as a 50 - year - old commissioned officer in World War II . Early life and career . Born on June 14 , 1892 , in Providence , Rhode Island , Gisburne attended school in Quincy , Massachusetts . He came from a family with a tradition of naval service , with six generations having served in the Navy since the American Civil War . An only child , Gisburne ' s father died when he was 5 , and his mother died months later . He eventually moved in with his paternal grandparents in Washington , D . C . , where he lived for the next ten years . In 1910 , he graduated from Washington ' s McKinley Manual Training School . He held a childhood interest in electricity and later wireless telegraphy which led to a career in radio technology . After his graduation , Gisburne worked for an electrical company in Boston for a few months before finding work at the Boston Navy Yard . While there , he and a group of friends decided on a whim to join the Navy ; Gisburne enlisted for a four - year term of service on August 30 , 1910 . He was first stationed as a signaler on the battleship and then on the supply ship . Veracruz and World War I . In early 1914 , Gisburne , by then an electrician third class , was transferred to the and became the battleship ' s chief radio operator . On April 21 , 1914 , in the midst of the ongoing Mexican Revolution , " Florida " was one of three U . S . Navy ships which landed a combined Navy and Marine Corps force at Veracruz , Mexico , in response to the Tampico Affair . The landings began a three - day battle which ended with U . S . occupation of the city . Accompanying " Florida " ' s landing party , Gisburne and others made their way to the roof of Veracruz ' s Terminal Hotel in order to establish a communications station . When the position came under fire , a Marine Corps rifle squad was sent to provide protection . The first marine to reach the roof , Private Daniel A . Haggerty of Cambridge , Massachusetts , was almost immediately shot in the stomach and fell such that he was partially hanging off the roof . Gisburne himself was severely wounded in the legs , leaving him unable to walk . Despite this , he crawled through the continuous heavy fire to reach the unconscious Haggerty , pulled him fully onto the roof , and then dragged him to a place of shelter before falling unconscious himself . The two were found still sitting on the roof , with Haggerty dead in Gisburne ' s arms . Gisburne eventually recovered from his injuries , but his left leg had to be amputated at mid - thigh . He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Veracruz two months after the battle , on June 15 , and was discharged from the Navy after a further two months , on August 17 . Gisburne ' s official Medal of Honor citation reads : On board the U . S . S . " Florida " during the seizure of Vera Cruz , Mexico , 21 and 22 April 1914 , and for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession during this action . On April 5 , 1917 , exactly one day before the U . S . entered World War I by declaring war on Germany , Gisburne rejoined the Navy at the warrant officer rank of gunner ( radio ) . Due to his missing leg , he had to get a waiver from the Secretary of the Navy , Josephus Daniels , before he could rejoin . He was promoted to the commissioned officer rank of ensign on January 12 , 1918 , and to lieutenant ( junior grade ) on December 5 of that year ( retroactive to November 20 ) . A radio operator , Gisburne handled communications for all cruisers and transports operating in the Atlantic Ocean during the war . He was serving on the transport when it carried President Woodrow Wilson to Europe for the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 . Gisburne was given a medical retirement on August 9 , 1920 , two years after the end of the war . Civilian life . After his first enlistment in the Navy , Gisburne settled in Milton , Massachusetts , where he would live for 35 years . He married Ena Frye of Boston and the couple had two sons , Edward Jr . and John . He held a number of jobs , including as a teacher of classes about radio at Boston College , a reporter for " The Patriot Ledger " in Quincy , and a district manager for the Boston Edison Company . He began a broadcasting career with the radio station WEEI as an editor and , from 1928 through the 1930s , as an announcer . Gisburne was an avid golfer with the Wollaston Golf Club and participated in the Engineers Club of Boston . He was also active in civic affairs , becoming a member of the Milton Town Club and twice being elected to the Milton School Committee , in 1935 and 1938 . World War II and later years . Despite being both an amputee and 50 years old , Gisburne began a third stint in the Navy after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor . He served as a lieutenant at Naval Air Station Quonset Point in Rhode Island . Both of his sons also served in the war . The older son , Edward Jr . , fought in the Pacific theater with the 40th Bombardment Group and earned the Air Medal for his actions in aerial combat with the Japanese ; he was killed in action at age 29 on May 26 , 1945 , when his B - 29 Superfortress went down . Gisburne and his wife moved to Duxbury , Massachusetts , in 1950 . He died at age 63 on August 29 , 1955 , at Chelsea Naval Hospital in Chelsea , Massachusetts . He was interred in a family plot at Milton Cemetery which also includes the grave of his wife Ena and a memorial marker for his son Edward Jr . He is one of two Medal of Honor recipients buried in the cemetery , the other being Indian Wars soldier Paul H . Weinert .