Education
Born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia, Hammond graduated from its George Washington High School in 1949.
Born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia, Hammond graduated from its George Washington High School in 1949.
Killed in action, he posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the night of March 26–27, 1953. He joined the Navy from Alexandria in 1951 and by March 26, 1953, was serving as a hospital corpsman with the 1st Marine Division in of Korea. On that night, during a counterattack against an entrenched force, he exposed himself to intense hostile fire in order to treat wounded Marines, even after he had been wounded himself.
When a relief unit arrived and his own unit was ordered to pull back, Hammond remained in the area, helping evacuate casualties and assisting the newly arrived corpsmen, until he was killed by mortar fire.
Hammond, age 21, was buried near his hometown at Arlington National Cemetery.
A new high school in Hammond"s hometown of Alexandria was named in his honor and opened in 1956. Alexandria City Public Schools changed to a 6-2-2-2 configuration in 1971, and the city"s three high schools changed from four-year to two-year campuses. All of the city"s juniors and seniors attended the newest high school, T.C. Williams, while Hammond and George Washington split the freshmen and sophomores. Both Hammond and George Washington became junior high schools (grades 7–9) in 1979 and then middle schools (grades 6–8) in 1993. The frigate United States Ship Francis Hammond (FF-1067) was named in his honor and commissioned on July 25, 1970.
