Giles C. Stedman

[2] The son of an Ireland born stonecutter, who worked in Quincy, Massachusetts' granite quarries, Stedman enlisted in the United States Coast Guard in 1917 at the age of 20.

In 1925, while serving as the First officer of the passenger liner SS Harding, in raging seas and at great personal risk, Stedman commanded the lifeboat that accomplished the near impossible task of rescuing the entire crew of the sinking Italian cargo ship Ignazio Florio.

Stedman received civilian medals from the governments of Italy, the United States and from the Lifesaving Benevolent Association for his actions, and a ticker tape parade through New York City honored the entire crew of the Harding.

While mastering the SS Washington, Stedman rescued the entire crew of the British freighter Olive Grove when it was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the Irish coast in 1939.

During the war, the US Navy promoted Stedman first to the rank of captain and then to rear admiral and appointed him first Commandant of Cadets and then Superintendent at the United States Merchant Marine Academy.

[5] The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Commander Giles C. Stedman, United States Naval Reserve, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commanding Officer of the S.S. American Merchant when that vessel was engaged in the rescue of twenty-two members of the crew of the British freighter Exeter City which was sinking in the mid-Atlantic, on 20 January 1933.