August Holtz (February 12, 1871 – March 5, 1938) was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

sailor and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

Biography

Holtz was born on February 12, 1871, in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

and joined the Navy in 1891. By September 8, 1910, he was serving as

chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

watertender A fireman, stoker or watertender is a person whose occupation it is to tend the fire for the running of a boiler, heating a building, or powering a steam engine. Much of the job is hard physical labor, such as shoveling fuel, typically coal, into ...

on the . On that day, while the ''North Dakota'' was conducting tests using oil as fuel, an explosion occurred, killing three sailors and endangering the ship. In the engine room, pieces of hot

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

and coke floated in waist-high hot water, oil was aflame above one of the

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...

s, and the entire room was filled with smoke, steam, and fumes. Despite these dangers, Holtz and five other men of the ship's engineering department entered the engine room to stifle the boiler fires and perform other tasks necessary to prevent a boiler explosion. After ensuring the safety of the ship, they then searched for and removed the bodies of the three sailors killed in the initial explosion. For these actions, Holtz and the five other men were approved for the Medal of Honor a month later, on October 4. On 13 June 1911,

President Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

presented all six heroes with their medal in a ceremony at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. The others were Chief Machinist's Mate

Thomas Stanton Thomas Stanton (1616?–1677) was a trader and an accomplished Indian interpreter and negotiator in the Connecticut Colony, one of the original settlers of Hartford.Society of the Descendants of the Founders of HartforThe Founders of Hartford/ref ...

, Chief Machinist's Mate Karl Westa, Chief Watertender Patrick Reid, Machinist's Mate First Class Charles C. Roberts, and Watertender Harry Lipscomb. Holtz left the Navy the same year. Holtz died at age 67.

Medal of Honor citation

Holtz's official Medal of Honor citation reads:

On board the U.S.S. ''North Dakota'', for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession during the fire on board that vessel, 8 September 1910.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holtz, August 1871 births 1938 deaths Military personnel from St. Louis United States Navy sailors United States Navy Medal of Honor recipients Burials at Long Island National Cemetery Non-combat recipients of the Medal of Honor

Biography

Medal of Honor citation

See also

References