Leo D. Fay

Leo D. Fay was a United States Navy ensign who received the Navy Cross and Purple Heart during his service as a unrestricted line officer in World War II.

Early life

Fay was born in Boston, Massachusetts on November 6, 1917 to Lawrence Anthony and Mary Agnes Fay. He graduated from Jamaica Plain High School in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Fay then went on to further his studies at Massachusetts State College in Amherst, Massachusetts, majoring in Animal husbandry graduating in 1939.

U.S. Navy career

Fay enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve in 1943 and was commissioned as an Ensign. His initial assignments with the Navy were aboard the destroyer as a line officer. On the evening of May 17, 1945 Japanese aircraft attacked the destroyer from all sides and one of the planes crashed into the forecastle of his ship and demolishing the forward bulkhead and deck near his work center. Ensign Fay while being critically injured in the kamikaze attack commanded his men to conduct repairs to the ship until succumbing to his wounds. Fay was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously.
His award citation reads: