Thomas J . Ryan ( admiral ) Rear Admiral Thomas John Ryan , Jr . ( August 5 , 1901 – January 28 , 1970 ) was a career American naval officer who received the Medal of Honor , the United States ' highest military decoration , for his actions while in Yokohama , Japan during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake . Ryan went on to serve in World War II as a destroyer flotilla commander . Early life . Ryan was a 1921 graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis , Maryland . While an ensign , he was in Yokohama , Japan during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake , during which he saved a woman , Mrs . Slack , from the burning Grand Hotel . This action earned Ryan the Medal of Honor , making him one of 18 men to receive the Medal of Honor during the interwar period from 1920 - 1940 . Ryan was presented the Medal of Honor by President Calvin Coolidge at the White House on March 15 , 1924 . World War II . During World War II , Captain Ryan served as a destroyer flotilla commander in the South Pacific while part of the Third Fleet under the command of Admiral William " Bull " Halsey and saw action during the Solomon Islands campaign . He commanded the destroyer screen which supported the invasion of New Georgia in 1943 , assisting the American landings on Rendova Island on June 30 , by knocking out Japanese shore batteries . In the Battle of Kolombangara two weeks later on July 12 – 13 , he was in command of the rear echelon of destroyers as part of Rear Admiral Walden L . Ainsworth ' s Task Force 18 . A torpedo fired from Ryan ' s destroyers during the battle may have hit the Japanese cruiser Jintsu , which was sunk during the battle . A month later , on August 17 – 18 , Ryan led a group of destroyers which engaged a Japanese flotilla composed of destroyers , barges , and other light vessels under Rear Admiral Matsuji Ijuin which were attempting to reinforce the island of Horaniu near Vella Lavella . Although Ryan succeeded in forcing the escorting enemy destroyers to retreat , most of the barge transports escaped . After lying low the next day , on August 19 , these barges landed a force of 390 Japanese on Horaniu , who succeeded in establishing a barge base . However , this base was later captured by the Americans on September 14 . Postwar . After the end of the war , Ryan served as the trial judge advocate ( prosecutor ) in late 1945 during the court - martial of Charles B . McVay III . McVay , who had graduated from the Naval Academy a year ahead of Ryan in 1920 , had been a friend of his for 25 years . He was the captain of the heavy cruiser , which had been torpedoed and sunk by the Japanese submarine I - 58 on July 30 , 1945 . McVay was convicted of " hazarding his ship by failing to zigzag " , but was exonerated more than 50 years later in October , 2000 . Ryan went on to reach the rank of rear admiral . He died on January 28 , 1970 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery . Medal of Honor citation . His citation reads as follows : For heroism in effecting the rescue of a woman from the burning Grand Hotel , Yokohama , Japan , on 1 September 1923 . Following the earthquake and fire which occurred in Yokohama on 1 September , Ens . Ryan , with complete disregard for his own life , extricated a woman from the Grand Hotel , thus saving her life . His heroic conduct upon this occasion reflects the greatest credit on himself and on the U . S . Navy , of which he is a part .