Resumen de Henry Breault:: Constructionof a naval hero
United States Navy sailors are excellent subjects for personal microhistories due to thevolume of surviving official documentation in the form of their Official MilitaryPersonnel Files. This article deconstructs a grand narrative surrounding HenryBreault, the only enlisted sailor to receive his Medal of Honor while serving aboard asubmarine. Breault experienced contemporary enshrinement, a long period of sporadicinterest, and a later iconographic construction into a submarine folk hero in the presentday. Breault has come to represent unnamed submariners, who are expected to performin the same fashion with no expectation of similar commendation. It is found that Breaultis still representative of sailors, but as an ordinary man who acted in an extraordinarymanner when circumstance required. The methodology provides insight into Breault’srelationship and connection to greater society as a submariner and as a highly decoratedsailor in the interwar period.
