“The Silent Service’s First Hero is truly a revelation. Ryan Walker’s book is one of the few histories to examine the pre-Second World War U.S. Navy submarine force, setting it apart from most submarine histories. More than that, however, he explores the experience of the U.S. Navy enlisted submarine Sailor, which is even more rarely chronicled. Readers will benefit from Walker’s thorough research, placing Henry Breault in the context of a very different time. Thanks to Walker’s exhaustive study, we now know far more about Henry Breault than simply the bare bones of his Medal of Honor citation – we know about his service in the Canadian navy and numerous other U.S. submarines, his complicated marriage, his evident leadership ability as a chief of the boat (without wearing chief’s anchors!), and even how to properly pronounce his name! Relying on sparse and often-vague documentation from over a century ago, Ryan Walker has crafted as full a portrait as we are likely to have of a submarine Sailor in the early 20th century U.S. Navy.”

Dr. Joel Holwitt, author of “Execute Against Japan”: The U.S. Decision to Conduct Unrestricted Submarine Warfare (Texas A&M University Press, 2009) and former U.S. Navy submarine captain.