Willis W . Bradley Willis Winter Bradley Jr . ( June 28 , 1884 – August 27 , 1954 ) was a Naval officer , a recipient of the Medal of Honor and a U . S . Representative from California . Biography . Born in Ransomville , New York , Bradley moved with his parents to Milnor , North Dakota , in July 1884 and to Forman , North Dakota , in 1891 . He attended the public schools , and Hamline University , St . Paul , Minnesota . He served as the deputy registrant of deeds of Sargent County , North Dakota in 1902 and 1903 . He graduated from the United States Naval Academy on September 12 , 1906 and went to sea in . After two years at sea as a passed midshipman , he received his commission as an ensign on September 13 , 1908 . Successively , Bradley served in from the fall of 1908 to October 1910 , helped to fit out and commission ( Torpedo Boat Destroyer No . 26 ) , and served in her until March 1911 . From then until September 1912 , he saw duty , first in the transport and then in . Next , he commanded ( Torpedo Boat No . 26 ) and the Reserve Torpedo Group at Annapolis , Md . Beginning in September 1913 , Bradley studied ordnance and explosives at the Naval Postgraduate School in Annapolis , Maryland , and then at George Washington University in Washington , D . C . He continued his studies at the Naval Proving Ground in Indian Head , Maryland , at Bausch & Lomb , and at the Midvale Steel Co . in Pittsburgh , Pa . In July 1915 , Bradley returned to sea in command of . That December , he was transferred to command of and of the Reserve Torpedo Division , Pacific Fleet . After service in between September 1916 and February 1917 , Bradley became gunnery officer on the . In that capacity , he received the Medal of Honor for his actions on July 23 , 1917 during a powder explosion in one of the ship ' s casemates . Though temporarily stunned , he entered the compartment , saved a man ' s life , and then reentered the casemate to extinguish burning gunpowder . Bradley moved ashore again in January 1918 to head the Explosives , Fuses , and Primers Section of the Bureau of Ordnance . From there , he went to the Naval Torpedo Station in Keyport , Washington , in August 1919 to serve as a naval inspector . Returning to sea in June 1920 , Bradley served as gunnery officer in until May 1921 . At that time , he reported to the Mare Island Navy Yard to assist in fitting out and commissioning . After the battleship went into commission on August 10 , he served as her gunnery officer . Bradley returned to Keyport in May 1922 for two years of duty at the Naval Torpedo Station as the Naval Inspector in Charge . From July 1924 to November 1926 , he commanded , the station ship at Guam in the Mariana Islands . Between late 1926 and the middle of 1929 , Bradley served in the Naval Reserve Section in the Bureau of Navigation . Following that tour of duty , he became Governor of Guam in June 1929 . As Governor , he issued Guam ' s first Bill of Rights , sought United States citizen ship for the Chamorros and proclaimed them to be citizens of Guam , and reorganized the Guam Congress . He also made possible the first free elections of village commissioners . He was considered a Progressive Republican and civil libertarian . On April 8 , 1930 he created the only official government run local post called " Guam Guard Mail " . It used overprinted Philippine stamps for the 1st , 3rd , and 4th issues and a locally printed one for the 2nd . It was needed since the U . S . Post Office did not deliver the mail to individual homes or businesses . " Guam Guard Mail " lasted one year forcing the Post Office to take over the operation on the northern half of Guam on January 1 , 1931 and the southern half on April 9 , 1931 . Bradley resumed sea duty in July 1931 in command of . Two years later , he became Captain of the Yard at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard . After six months , however , he was transferred to command of . That assignment lasted until June 1937 at which time he was reassigned to the Naval War College as a student . After a year of duty with the Pacific coast section of the Board of Inspection and Survey beginning in May 1938 , Capt . Bradley commanded Destroyer Squadron ( DesRon ) 31 , Battle Force , based in San Diego for a year . At the conclusion of that assignment , he resumed duty with the Board of Inspection and Survey on the west coast . He continued in that billet through the end of World War II and until his retirement on August 1 , 1946 . Bradley was elected as a Republican to the Eightieth Congress ( January 3 , 1947 – January 3 , 1949 ) . He served as assistant to the president of the Pacific Coast Steamship Co . from 1949 to 1952 . He served as member of the California State Assembly from 1952 until his death . Bradley died in Santa Barbara , California , August 27 , 1954 . He was interred in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery , San Diego , California . Medal of Honor citation . Rank and organization : Commander , U . S . Navy . Born : 28 June 1884 , Ransomville , N . Y . Appointed from : North Dakota . Citation : For extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving on the U . S . S . Pittsburgh , at the time of an accidental explosion of ammunition on that vessel . On 23 July 1917 , some saluting cartridge cases were being reloaded in the after casemate : through an accident an explosion occurred . Comdr . Bradley ( then Lieutenant ) , who was about to enter the casemate , was blown back by the explosion and rendered momentarily unconscious , but while still dazed , crawled into the casemate to extinguish burning materials in dangerous proximity to a considerable amount of powder , thus preventing further explosions . Namesakes . was named in his honor .