Richard Gordon Johnson (he later changed his name to Richard Jongordon) was born December 6, 1922, in Wheaton, Minnesota, and grew up on a farm and worked any job he could find to help support his family during the Great Depression. At age 17, he dropped out of high school and joined the Navy after his mother signed a signature waiver.
Because he was a farm kid who had also worked at a butcher shop, he was made a mess specialist and organized and distributed three meals a day on board the USS San Francisco. He turned 19 on December 6, 1941 while his ship was at Pearl Harbor. And, we know what happened the next day.
His ship was being overhauled and had essentially no weapons that day, but fortunately the enemy planes ignored it and went after the ships afloat.
Since it wasn't damaged, the guns and work on the ship was quickly done and on December 14, the ship sailed out for war. It was at the Battle of the Coral Sea and in many operations in the long battle for Guadalcanal.
His main duty was getting the meals out to the crew, but when battle stations were called, he acted as a medic, making sure the wounded were cared for.
The sea battle that took place November 12-13, 1942, off Guadalcanal was the worst the ship was ever in. The communications and electrical systems were knocked out on the ship, and Jongordon had to look for the wounded in the darkness. At one point, he found himself in the water up to his waist. The crew stacked mattresses up against the shell and secured them with tables from the mess hall to slow the rush of water.
--GreGen
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