"I wasn't as cocky. It was a pain to go back into battle." (Video Interview, 24:58)

Harold Augustus Lippard

Harold Lippard, 2004 War: World War, 1939-1945; Korean War, 1950-1953 Branch: Navy Unit: USS Franklin (CV 13) Service Location: Pacific Theater; Pensacola, Florida; Norfolk, Virginia; Philippines; Pacific Theater Rank: Hospital Corpsman First Class Place of Birth: NC

He had never been aboard a boat bigger than a rowboat, so when North Carolina farm boy Harold Lippard boarded the huge aircraft carrier Franklin, he might be expected to be awed. Still, Lippard called on his training and kept his composure amid one of the worst catastrophes in U.S. Naval history, when a kamikaze plane dropped two huge bombs on the Franklin on March 19, 1945. Even after he was blown overboard by an explosion, Lippard continued to bring aid and comfort to his fellow sailors.