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Heroism, athleticism, and sad to say, racism. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

In 1956, a 37-year old World War II Navy veteran named Charles Jackson French died in San Diego.

French, who was Black, had been “claimed by alcoholism,” according to friends. Here’s what we think we know about him—and why, perhaps, more people should know.

An orphan, French enlisted in the Navy right after Pearl Harbor. By summer 1942, he was serving as a mess attendant — a food server — on an old destroyer called the USS Gregory, which was right in the thick of the early U.S. war in the Pacific.

Part of the task force supporting Marines at Guadalcanal, the Gregory and a sister ship called the USS Little were ambushed just before Labor Day 1942, by four larger enemy ships.

The U.S. destroyers were outgunned. The Little was crippled. The Gregory caught fire and sank. But French survived, alone at first in the shark-infested waters.

Eventually he spotted a life raft, where roughly 15 other wounded survivors were taking refuge. The Japanese spotted the raft too, and started firing at it.

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