Alexander Haure Turvelin

He jumped overboard to rescue a drowning coxswain at Toulon.

Alexander Haure Turvelin was born in Russia in 1847 and served in the United States Navy as a seaman aboard USS Trenton. The ship was a steam frigate assigned to the European Station, carrying American naval service into Mediterranean and northern European waters.

In February 1881, while Trenton was at Toulon, France, Coxswain Augustus Ohlensen was in danger of drowning. Turvelin jumped overboard and rescued him. His action was an act of lifesaving courage during peacetime naval service.

For rescuing Ohlensen, Turvelin received the Medal of Honor under General Order 326, dated 18 October 1884. The interval between the rescue and the award separates the date of the action from its official recognition.

The citation records the rescue without an exact day in February or a detailed account of conditions in the water. No later naval or civilian career, death date or burial place is securely established in the surviving recipient record.

Medal of Honor citation

For jumping overboard from the U.S.S. Trenton, at Toulon, France, February 1881, and rescuing from drowning Augustus Ohlensen, coxswain.