A Navy ship is being named after a Filipino American Navy firefighter who died in 1915 after rescuing shipmates injured in an explosion aboard their Navy cruiser.

U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro recently made the decision to name a ship after Fireman 2nd Class Telesforo De La Cruz Trinidad, the only Filipino American and only Asian American in U.S. Naval history to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Congressman Ed Case (D-Hawaii, District 1) joined fellow colleagues in urging in a May 2021 letter to then Acting Secreary of the Navy Thomas Harker to name a surface combat ship after Trinidad.

Case today praised the decision and issued a news release in which the 2021 letter was quoted in part: “The naming of a ship after Trinidad is a resolute symbol of Navy leaership and commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion during this time of national racial tensions and unwarranted violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

“Equally important, it will honor the tens of thousands of Filipinos who have served faithfully and loyally in the U.S. Navy since 1901.”

Del Toro said a future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer will be named USS Telesforo Trinidad (DDG 139).

Trinidad earned the Medal of Honor April 1, 1915, for his extraordinary heroism in the line of duty during boiler explosions Jan. 21, 1915, aboard the USS San Diego in the Gulf of California.

He brought two crewmembers to safety despite his own injuries during the explosion.