April 29, 1942

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt praised Rear Admiral Corydon Wassell in one of his fireside chats, saying that he was “almost like a Christlike shepherd devoted to his flock.” Dr. Wassell, who was from Little Rock (Pulaski County), was one of the first national heroes of World War II. He distinguished himself and was awarded the Navy Cross for his determined faithfulness to the care of wounded men in the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia), electing to remain there with servicemen who were not ambulatory rather than being redeployed with those who were being evacuated from the scene.