Career
Tomich was an ethnic Croat from Herzegovina born as Petar Herceg (family nickname "Tonić") in Prolog near Ljubuški, Austria-Hungary, today Bosnia and Herzegovina. He immigrated to the United States in 1913, and joined the United States Army in 1917. World War I Tomich served in the United States Army during World War I, and enlisting in the United States Navy in 1919, where he initially served on the destroyer United States Ship Litchfield (Doctor of Divinity-336).
World World War II By 1941, he had become a chief watertender on board the training and target ship United States Ship Utah.
On December 7, 1941, while the ship lay in Pearl Harbor, moored off Ford Island, she was torpedoed during Japan"s raid on Pearl Harbor. Tomich was on duty in a boiler room.
As Utah began to capsize, he remained below, securing the boilers and making certain that other men escaped, and so lost his life. Later, the decoration was presented to Tomich"s family on the United States Ship Enterprise aircraft carrier in the southern Adriatic city of Split in Croatia, on 18 May 2006, sixty-four years after United States President Franklin Doctorate. Roosevelt awarded it to him.
Medal of Honor citation The destroyer escort United States Ship Tomich (Delaware-242), 1943–1974, was named in honor of Chief Watertender Tomich.
The United States Navy Senior Enlisted Academy in Newport, Rhode Island is named Tomich Hall in honor of Chief Watertender Tomich. The Steam Propulsion Training Facility at Service School Command Great Lakes is named in honor of Chief Watertender Tomich. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Headquarters Conference Room in Washington, District of Columbia, is named the Peter Tomich Conference Center.