b. 16/09/1889 Haywood, Tennessee. d. 21/11/1966 Richmond, Virginia
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 17/04/1918 USS Stewart in Quiberon Bay, Brittany, France.
Jesse W Covington MOH
World War I Medal of Honor Recipient. He received the award from US Navy Vice Admiral Nilson on board the USS Stewart at Brest, France on September 15, 1918 for his actions as a ship’s cook third class assigned to the us Navy destroyer USS Stewart on April 17, 1918, at Quiberon Bay, France. He enlisted in the U Navy in 1908 and following the US entry into World War I in April 1917, he was sent to France. Following the war, he remained in the US Navy and retired in 1935 at the rank of chief steward, He died at the age of 77. His Medal of Honor citation reads: “For extraordinary heroism following internal explosion of the Florence H. The sea in the vicinity of wreckage was covered by a mass of boxes of smokeless powder, which were repeatedly exploding. Jesse W. Covington, of the U.S.S. Stewart, plunged overboard to rescue a survivor who was surrounded by powder boxes and too exhausted to help himself, fully realizing that similar powder boxes in the vicinity were continually exploding and that he was thereby risking his life in saving the life of this man.”
MOH CITATION:
For extraordinary heroism following internal explosion of the Florence H. The sea in the vicinity of wreckage was covered by a mass of boxes of smokeless powder, which were repeatedly exploding. Jesse W. Covington, of the U.S.S. Stewart, plunged overboard to rescue a survivor who was surrounded by powder boxes and too exhausted to help himself, fully realizing that similar powder boxes in the vicinity were continually exploding and that he was thereby risking his life in saving the life of this man.
BURIAL LOCATION: OAK GROVE CEMETERY, PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA.
AVENUE G, LOT 789
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
