1946 ❖ CAPT. GEORGE BAHM GIVEN TWO MEDALS

                                                                          

U.S.S. SAN JUAN
The entire ship's company of the cruiser
SAN JUAN is mustered on deck, moored 
at Pier 28 in Seattle, while the chaplain
offers prayer before the presentation
of two Legion of Merit Medals to 
Capt. Geroge H. Bahm, 
U.S.N. commanding officer.
Dated verso 3 Feb. 1946.
Click image to enlarge.
Official U.S. Navy photograph
from the archives of the 
Saltwater People Historical Society©

"Capt. George H. Bahm, U.S.N., commanding officer of the cruiser SAN JUAN, yesterday was wearing two Legion of Merit Medals awarded to him for outstanding performance of duty during the war.
        The medals were presented to Capt. Bahm on behalf of the Navy Department, by Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs, U.S.N. commandant of the 13th Naval District, aboard the SAN JUAN, moored at Pier 28 in Seattle.
        One of the medals was awarded to Capt. Bahm in recognition of the SAN JUAN's outstanding service in the Pacific. The second medal was in recognition of Capt. Bahm's service in putting in commission and commanding the U.S.S. DIXIE, a destroyer tender, the first ship of that type built for the Navy since 1918.
        The presentation was made in the presence of the officers and crew of the SAN JUAN, the entire ship's company being assembled on deck during the ceremony.
In accepting the medals, Captain Brahm addressing his officers and crew, said:

        'This recognition belongs to the SAN JUAN and to you, the officers and men who fought her––the men without whom there would have been no ship, but only an empty lifeless hull.'

        The guns of the SAN JUAN threw more than 25,000 five-inch projectiles at the Japs, more than 80,000 rounds of 40-millimeter ammunition, and nearly 250,000 rounds of 20-millimeter projectiles.
        Capt. Bahm went to the Naval Academy from Philadelphia and graduated with the class of 1923. He and Mrs. Baham made their home in San Francisco. They have one son, George C.R. Bahm, a student at Stanford University. Mrs. Brahm was aboard the SAN JUAN for the ceremonies."

Text from the Seattle Daily Times, published 3 February 1946.