100 years ago Friday, the first submariner received the Medal of Honor

Their service is often silent, but valorous nonetheless, and exactly a century ago Friday, a Navy submariner became the first of his kind to receive the Medal of Honor.

President Calvin Coolidge presented Torpedoman’s Mate 2nd Class Henry Breault the military’s highest military decoration on March 8, 1924.

Actions in the Panama Canal the year before led Breault to become the silent service’s first Medal of Honor recipient.

On the Atlantic side of the canal, Breault was serving aboard the USS O-5 on Oct. 28, 1923, when a commercial vessel struck the sub, sinking it in less than a minute, according to his Medal of Honor citation.

Breault was in the torpedo room at the time of the collision but managed to make it to the hatch and escape.