August Wilson

Crawling across the tops of the boilers to close an auxiliary stop valve

August Wilson was a U.S. Navy boilermaker who earned the Medal of Honor for his actions during a boiler accident aboard USS Puritan at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 1 July 1897. He entered the fireroom and opened a safety valve, protecting the monitor’s remaining boilers from failure.

Wilson was born on 1 March 1864 in Danzig, Prussia, now Gdańsk, Poland. He joined the United States Navy, and Medal of Honor records associate his service with New York. By 1897, he was serving as a boilermaker aboard USS Puritan, where his duties involved maintaining the boilers that supplied steam to the warship.

The emergency began when the crown sheet, a metal plate above the furnace in Boiler E, collapsed. With heat and steam filling the fireroom, Wilson wrapped wet cloths around his face and arms, entered the compartment and opened the safety valve. His action removed the immediate danger to the other boilers. Watertender William Ahern also entered the fireroom, crawling across the tops of the boilers to close an auxiliary stop valve and isolate Boiler E. Both sailors received the Medal of Honor for their actions during the same emergency.

Wilson’s award was announced in Navy General Order No. 482 on 1 November 1897. His citation records an act of non-combat heroism from an era when the Navy could award the Medal of Honor for extraordinary courage in the line of duty. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society records Wilson as having received the award during his lifetime. His later naval career, date of death and burial place remain unverified.