The U.S. Navy will commission a new guided missile destroyer in honor of California veteran and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, PFC Ralph Henry Johnson. 

The USS Ralph Johnson will be commissioned tomorrow, Saturday, March 24, in Charleston, S.C.

Johnson, who enlisted in Oakland, is one of 5,673 veterans whose names are engraved on the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Sacramento’s Capitol Park.

He was born Jan. 11, 1949, in Charleston, South Carolina. Johnson enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1967. He completed recruit training in San Diego and individual combat training at Camp Pendleton, before deploying to Vietnam in 1968.

Johnson, a reconnaissance scout with Company A, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division (Rein), FMF, died March 5, 1968, after hurling himself on a grenade – an act that saved the life of a fellow Marine. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously.

You can learn more about the warship and watch live streaming of tomorrow’s event on Navy Live.

Read more about PFC Johnson here.