Heroism: The MarineLockwood

Staff Sergeant Bryce F. Lockwood, USMC

". . . despite severe burns, the rapid rise of water, heavy smoke and complete darkness, was instrumental in the rescue of personnel from the flooded compartments, thus averting even further loss of life. Without regard for his personal safety or his injuries, he assisted in the rescue until ordered to leave. His calm, rational thinking and actions evidenced a high degree of professional competence and moral fibre."

"The battle lantern burned out, leaving only the dim light coming through the hatch to guide scores of men out of that compartment. Men swam, climbed and clawed their way through an impossible jumble toward the single manhole. Where moments before had stood a wall, now hid jagged metal beneath black water in a dark room. Men fought their way toward the hatch and were blocked by cables, by equipment, by misshapen steel, by upended desks.

Lean, tough Marine Staff Sergeant Bryce Lockwood felt flesh underfoot, then movement, and ducked underwater to find a man pinned under a section of doubled-back plating that had been the third deck. Lockwood found the time and the strength to free him. He pushed the lucky survivor toward the hatch, then stopped to help someone else.

As he turned toward a man who seemed to be in trouble, water finally reached the manhole. Lockwood was too busy to realize that his only exit was now covered with water. Water gushed through the hole in a great torrent onto the deck above. It took three men fighting the flow of water to force the cover shut, but Lockwood knew of none of this. He knew only that the man he had hoped to help was already dead and that the room was suddenly dark.

In blackness, he tried to remember the direction toward the light. As he moved toward the hatch, sometimes swimming, often pulling himself hand-over-hand along the pipes and cables that spanned the ceiling, the ship completed her roll back toward the starboard side, once again placing the hatch above water. Finally, Lockwood's leg struck a rung of the warped but still-familiar heavy steel ladder. From there it was easy to find the manhole in the darkness.

He reached it quickly, but the handle would not turn. Was it locked? Stuck? Water churned around him as he cursed the devil sailors who had closed the manhole and who doubtless stood over it. Where other men might be afraid, Lockwood reacted with rage. Was the ship sinking? Would he go down with it? He could only guess as he pounded on the heavy door. And as he pounded, his rage increased.

Finally, white light shone around the heavy rubber gasket as the manhole opened. Pulled through, he yelled angrily at everyone near:

"Who was the stupid son of a bitch who closed the hatch? Couldn't you hear? Couldn't you see me coming? Didn't you hear me knocking? Stupid son of a bitch!" He bellowed until, catching his breath, he ordered a sailor to keep the manhole open and reentered the terrible room. Water covered much of the overhead as he searched for life in the treacherous water. Men shone battle lanterns through the hatch and Lockwood continued his search with the aid of a waterproof light that he took into the water with him, but he could find no one in need of help. Finally, he crawled back through the manhole for the last time to testify in a sick whisper, "No one is alive down there."

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