Background
Seymour David Ruchamkin was born March 8, 1912 in New York City.
Seymour David Ruchamkin was born March 8, 1912 in New York City.
He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1940 and shortly thereafter, on July 13, 1940, enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve. Appointed midshipman on September 16, 1940, he attended the United States Naval Reserve Midshipman School at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and reported to the destroyer United States Ship Cushing (Doctor of Divinity-376) on January 24, 1941.
On November 13, 1942, Lieutenant, junior grade, Ruchamkin was killed in action against Japanese forces in Ironbottom Sound off Savo Island in the Solomon Islands during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. The United States. Navy destroyer escort United States Ship Ruchamkin (Delaware-228), was named for Ruchamkin. She was converted during construction into the high-speed transport United States Ship Ruchamkin (APD-89, later LPR-89), and was in commission as such from 1945 to 1946, from 1951 to 1957, and from 1961 to 1969.
Ruchamkin was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously for "..extraordinary heroism as first lieutenant aboard the United States Ship Cushing..While under vigorous bombardment by hostile naval units. Ruchamkin..efficiently directed the fighting of fires and the efforts to control damage. Leading his party to an area below decks to extinguish flames which were raging there, he never returned.".
