The U.S. Navy has rejected the Navy Cross for a 'heroic' chaplain who died while ministering to sailors in shark-infested waters after their ship was torpedoed during World War II.
Lt. Thomas Michael Conway, a Catholic priest from Buffalo, New York, reportedly spent three nights praying with those aboard the USS Indianapolis in the Philippine Sea until he drowned aged 37.
A Veterans Memorial Committee in Waterbury, where Conway was born, appealed to the Navy last year in a bid to get his actions recognized but the case has now been denied.
The board submitted testimonies from survivors, letters from Conway's family and other materials.
Frank J. Centazzo, a survivor of the USS Indianapolis who is now deceased, previously described Conway as a 'respected' and 'loved' man.
Recalling the chaplain's final hours, Centazzo wrote: 'I was in the group with Father Conway. I saw him go from one small group to another getting the shipmates to join in prayer and asking them not to give up hope of being rescued.
'He kept working until he was exhausted. I remember on the third day late in the afternoon when he approached me and Paul McGiness.
'He was thrashing the water and Paul and I held him so he could rest a few hours.
'Later, he managed to get away from us and we never saw him again.'
The Navy refuted some of the documentation submitted by the Waterbury Veterans Memorial Committee and cited Navy regulations requiring those nominating sailors for awards to be of higher rank than the nominee