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The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Corporal Joseph R. Driskell (MCSN: 283270),United States Marine Corps, for exceptional courage, presence of mind, and devotion to duty and disregard for his personal condition while serving on the U.S.S. NEVADA (BB-36) during the Japanese attack on the United States Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 7 December 1941. Corporal Driskell, the gun captain of No.9 broadside gun of the U.S.S. Nevada, was seriously wounded and burned, and most of his clothing burned off when a bomb exploded in the immediate vicinity of his gun. Disregarding his condition, he insisted on manning another gun after his own was wrecked. Despite serious leg wounds, he refused to join the wounded, but assisted other wounded men instead, and then joined fire-fighting squads which contributed materially to bringing the fires under control. His outstanding courage, aggressive fighting spirit, and devotion to duty reflect the highest credit upon Corporal Driskell and the United States Naval Service.
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BURIED_ Highland Lawn Cemetery in Terre Haute, Ind
USS Nevada (BB-36), the third United States Navy ship to be named after the 36th state, was the lead ship of the two Nevada-class battleships. Launched in 1914, Nevada was a leap forward in dreadnought technology; four of her new features would be included on almost every subsequent US battleship: triple gun turrets, oil in place of coal for fuel, geared steam turbines for greater range, and the "all or nothing" armor principle. These features made Nevada, alongside her sister ship Oklahoma, the first US Navy "standard-type" battleships.
Nevada served in both World Wars. During the last few months of World War I, Nevada was based in Bantry Bay, Ireland, to protect supply convoys that were sailing to and from Great Britain. In World War II, she was one of the battleships trapped when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Nevada was the only battleship to get underway during the attack, making the ship "the only bright spot in an otherwise dismal and depressing morning" for the United States.[13] Still, the ship was hit by one torpedo and at least six bombs while steaming away from Battleship Row, forcing the crew to beach the stricken ship on a coral ledge. The ship continued to flood and eventually slid off the ledge and sank to the harbor floor. Nevada was subsequently salvaged and modernized Puget Sound Navy Yard, allowing her to serve as a convoy escort in the Atlantic and as a fire-support ship in five amphibious assaults (the invasions of Attu, Normandy, Southern France, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa).
At the end of World War II, the Navy decided that, due to age, Nevada would not be retained as part of the active fleet and she was instead assigned as a target ship for the atomic experiments at Bikini Atoll in July 1946 (Operation Crossroads). The ship was hit by the blast from atomic bomb Able, and was left heavily damaged and radioactive. Unfit for further service, Nevada was decommissioned on 29 August 1946 and sunk for naval gunfire practice on 31 July 1948.
