STUPKA, LADDIE (4 March 1878-20 Feb. 1946), a peacetime recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for service in the United States Navy, was a native of Cleveland, Ohio, originally enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1899 at New York. Stupka was serving as a Fireman, 1st Class aboard the USS Leyden when the Civil War-vintage vessel foundered in a heavy fog off the coast of Rhode Island and sank 21 Jan. 1903. Stupka survived and received the Medal of Honor for "seaman-like" qualities in times of emergency on 26 Dec. 1903. He was buried in Baltimore National Cemetery.
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