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World War I Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
Ensign Tedford H. Cann, USNRF
September 3, 1896 - Jan. 26, 1929
Tedford H. Cann was born on September 3, 1896 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He served in the Navy's Reserve Force during World War I, initially as a seaman. On November 5, 1917, while he was a member of the crew of the patrol vessel May (SP-164), Seaman Cann courageously worked in a flooded compartment, locating and closing a leak that endangered his ship. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for this act.
In April 1918, Cann was commissioned as an Ensign in the Reserve Force, continuing to serve in USS May into July. He spent the rest of World War I as an officer in USS Noma (SP-131) and apparently left the service shortly after the conflict's end. USS May (SP-164), 1917-1919
USS May, a 1100-ton (displacement) patrol vessel, was built in 1891 at Troon, Scotland, as a civilian yacht. She was purchased by the Navy in August 1917 and placed in commission in October of that year. During the First World War, she served in the western Atlantic and in the Caribbean on shipping protection duties. As of March 1919, she was intended for eventual service as a flagship, but ran aground off Cape Engano, Santo Domingo, on 27 July 1919. After unfruitful attempts to refloat her, May's wreck was offered for sale. However, no purchasers appeared, and she was abandoned as unsalable in June 1923. Photographed from USS Margaret (SP-527).
CITATION:
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 3 September 1897, Bridgeport, Conn. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 366, 1918. Citation: For courageous conduct while serving on board the U.S.S. May, 5 November 1917. Cann found a leak in a flooded compartment and closed it at the peril of his life, thereby unquestionably saving the ship.
He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery
Courtesy of Find A Grave
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