Adm. Ward began his combat career as a lieutenant aboard the submarine S-26. He was one of three survivors when that boat was sunk in February 1942.

Adm. Ward's wartime medals included two Navy Crosses and two Silver Stars. The submarines on which he served in the Pacific received a Presidential Unit Citation and a Navy Unit Commendation.

He was a Lieutenant Commander and skipper of the submarine Sailfish on the night of Dec. 3, 1943, when he earned his first Navy Cross.

 The citation said that he "fearlessly attacked a heavily guarded enemy aircraft carrier and, after inflicting initial damage, held tenaciously to his target and pressed home the final attack which sent the 22,000-ton hostile fleet unit to the bottom."

Following the war, Adm. Ward commanded a submarine division and attended the National War College before becoming an administrative aide to the assistant secretary of the Navy for material in 1954.

After tours as a submarine squadron commander and commander of the cruiser Rochester, he joined the staff of the chief of naval operations in Washington in 1959, He was chief of legislative affairs for the Navy from 1960 to 1962.

 He received the Legion of Merit for his tour of duty as commander of the Naval Reserve Training Command before retiring.

The lot includes a Citation presenting a Gold Star to Commander Robert E.M. Ward; A Citation presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Commander Robert E.M. Ward; a Citation presenting the Silver Star to Lieutenant Commander E.M. Ward, all three signed C.W. Nimitz, Admiral, U.S. Navy, and a Presidential Unit Citation to the United States Ship Sailfish signed by James Forestal, Secretary of the Navy. Together with Lieutenant Commander Ward's Navy Cross, Silver Star, China Service Medal, and World War II medal, and the USS Rochester "Cruise" book, June 1959