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  • Relief Efforts--Humanitarian Aid-Rescue
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  • Photograph
Wars & Conflicts
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September 5, 1923 -- Yokohama, Japan


NH 91405: Tokyo-Yokohama Earthquake, September 1923. Ruins of the city below the destroyed U.S. Navy Hospital. NHHC Photograph Collection.
Caption: NH 91405: Tokyo-Yokohama Earthquake, September 1923. Ruins of the city below the destroyed U.S. Navy Hospital. NHHC Photograph Collection.

NH 100371: USS Blackhawk (AD-9). Japanese sailors help unload the ship after her arrival in Tokyo Bay with relief supplies for victims of the Great Kanto Earthquake in September 1923. NHHC Photograph Collection.
Caption: NH 100371: USS Blackhawk (AD-9). Japanese sailors help unload the ship after her arrival in Tokyo Bay with relief supplies for victims of the Great Kanto Earthquake in September 1923. NHHC Photograph Collection.

The U.S. Asiatic Fleet arrives at Yokohama, Japan, to provide medical assistance and supplies after the Great Kanto Earthquake, occuring just days prior.  On 1 Sepember, Lieutenant Junior Grade Thomas J. Ryan rescued a woman from the burning Grand Hotel in Yokohama.  For his "extraordinary heroism" on that occassion, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.  

Other Resources:

U.S. Navy Response to the 1923 Kanto Earthquake in Japan


NH 46075: Lieutenant Junior Grade Thomas J. Ryan, USN. Photographed after receiving the Medal of Honor, presented by President Calvin Coolidge at the White House. NHHC Photograph Collection.
Caption: NH 46075: Lieutenant Junior Grade Thomas J. Ryan, USN. Photographed after receiving the Medal of Honor, presented by President Calvin Coolidge at the White House. NHHC Photograph Collection.
Published: Fri Jul 24 07:31:00 EDT 2020