William Pinckney served as a cook aboard the USS Enterprise for 3 years during WWII. In October of 1942, the ship suffered two hits by Japanese bombs at the Battle of Santa Cruz, killing 44 sailors and wounding 75 more. When the second bomb went off, Pinckney was at his battle station in an ammunition handling room. The room rocked and exploded, killing 4 sailors. Only Pinckney and one other survived. They tried to climb a ladder through a hatch onto the hanger deck. The scorching hot metal hatch burned the other survivor so badly he lost consciousness and fell back down the ladder. Pinckney summoned the strength to heave the man onto his shoulder and start climbing. An exposed electric cable shocked him, throwing, him off the ladder and causing him to lose consciousness as well. When he came to, Pinckney grabbed up his companion once more and climbed the ladder, successfully making it to safety.
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