Seaman Herbert Foss Honored in Hingham [VIDEO]

The Hingham Veterans’ Council along with Military, State, and Local Officials paid tribute to the town’s only Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Seaman Herbert Lewis Foss Wednesday afternoon in front of his grave at the Fort Hill Cemetery.

Hingham Veterans’ Council  Director Keith Jermyn along with a US Navy veteran laid a wreath in front of his grave and members of the Old Colony Lodge, A.F & A.M. conducted a ritual and gave him a three gun salute to honor their brother.

Foss served in the US Navy and fought in the Spanish American War. During the war, in May of 1898, Foss and his shipmates snared the communications cable off the coast of northwest Cuba.  With great difficulty while under intense enemy fire the men pulled the cable up over the bow of their ship and proceeded to sever it.  Since many of his shipmates were wounded or killed in the process, Foss finished the job by cutting the cable with a hacksaw and was later honored for his acts of braveness.

Foss has been honored in Hingham for the past six years thanks to  Michael Cunningham, the former Hingham Veterans’ services director . Cunningham decided that the town should hold a Memorial Celebration each year on the anniversary of Foss’s birthday, October 12, 1871.

“It’s just something I think we should be doing,” said Cunningham who attended Wednesday’s service. “This is something that should have been done a long  time ago.”

Rep Garrett Bradley, D-Hingham,  and Sen. Robert  Hedlund, R-Weymouth were both present to speak about the importance of honoring veterans.   Bradley mentioned that Weymouth’s five Congressional Medal of Honor winners each have schools named after them and thinks a town structure in Hingham should be named for Foss.

“I personally have a few rules that I live by and one of them is to properly honor the greatest among us,” Bradley said. “It is long overdue to my home town of Hingham to recognize Seaman Foss and name a town structure in his honor.”

Hedlund agreed with Bradley’s proposal.

“I hope what we do today will lead to further recognition from the town of Hingham so that we can elevate the memory of Herbert Foss here in Hingham to the level that it should be,” the State Senator said.

Bradley and Hedlund each honored Foss’s granddaughter Harriet Kirkpatrick and great great grandson Dan MacKay who were present at the event.

“I feel more proud knowing about my own family’s history,” MacKay said.  “I’m glad the town of Hingham puts this on.”

Coleman Nee, the secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Veterans Service said the most important way to honor veterans like Foss is to support veterans like him today.

“I assure you that the bravery and courage exhibited by Seaman Foss back in the Spanish American War is right now being exhibited and demonstrated in the deserts of Afghanistan and the cities and towns in Iraq and other dangerous places around the world,” Nee said.

For his heroic act of bravery under enemy fire, Foss was awarded his country's highest honor, The Congressional Medal of Honor in 1899. He also received the Admiral Sampson Navy Medal, Good Conduct Medal and the Service Medal before passing away in 1937 at the age of 66.

Wednesday marked the 140th anniversary of his birthday.

To see more photos from the ceremony, click