Ceremony for Fr. Thomas Conway​

Posthumous Navy Cross Presentation

For his many years of service to God and his fellow man, the United States Navy in 2020 awarded Father Thomas Conway, a lieutenant and chaplain aboard USS Indianapolis (CA-35), the Navy Cross. Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite conferred the medal posthumously in a ceremony at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Waterbury, Connecticut. After Indianapolis disappeared beneath the waves on July 30, 1945, Fr. Conway spent the last hours of his life ministering to "those in peril on the sea." On the third day of the ordeal, Fr. Conway succumbed to exhaustion, thus fulfilling the words of Christ, "Greater love hath no man than that he give up his life for his friends."

Click here to watch the video that takes a closer look at the life and legacy of this heroic man.