U.S. Navy trailblazer John Henry “Dick” Turpin received some long overdue recognition last week for his service and heroism nearly 60 years after his death.

The renaming of the Bremerton Post Office building is the culmination of a decades-long effort to memorialize the exploits and achievements of the longtime city resident, who saved the lives of three officers and 12 sailors in the 1905 explosion aboard the USS Bennington. Eleven men received Medals of Honor for their bravery in that incident, which remains one of the Navy’s worst peacetime disasters. But despite his heroic actions, saving men’s lives by swimming them one-by-one to safety, Turpin — who was Black — did not.

Turpin enlisted in a segregated Navy in 1896 and rose through the ranks to become one of the first Black Americans to achieve the rank of Chief Petty Officer. His 30-year Navy career spanned the Spanish-American War, the Boxer Rebellion and World War I. After retiring from the Navy in 1925, he worked as a Master Rigger at the Puget Sound Naval Yard. When told he was too old to re-enlist during World War II, he volunteered instead to pay inspirational visits to Black American sailors at Navy training facilities and defense plants.

Although those familiar with his service had been lobbying for Turpin to receive the Medal of Honor before his death, he died in 1962 without any official recognition of his accomplishments, said Living Arts Cultural Heritage Project founder and director Karen Vargas: “They didn’t even have a headstone for him at the cemetery,” she said.

That’s since changed, and thanks to the consistent efforts of local historians, The John Henry Turpin Post Office Building will help ensure Turpin’s name and achievements are not lost to the ages.

The bill officially renaming the building at 602 Pacific Ave., Bremerton, was sponsored by Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, and co-sponsored by Washington’s entire Congressional Delegation. It was passed unanimously by both chambers of the U.S. Congress and signed into law on Dec. 21.

It is an honor too long delayed, and richly deserved.