Jesse Whitfield Covington

He swam among exploding powder boxes to rescue one survivor.

Jesse Whitfield Covington was born in Haywood County, Tennessee, on 16 September 1889. He enlisted in the United States Navy in 1908 and made it his career. During the First World War he served as a ship's cook third class in the destroyer USS Stewart, operating from France.

On 17 April 1918, the ammunition ship Florence H suffered a devastating internal explosion in Quiberon Bay. Burning wreckage and boxes of smokeless powder spread across the water. The danger continued as powder boxes exploded around the survivors. Covington saw an exhausted man who could no longer help himself and was surrounded by the floating explosives. He went overboard and swam to the man, bringing him out despite the continuing explosions and the risk that another detonation would kill them both.

His rescue earned the Medal of Honor. The decoration was presented aboard Stewart at Brest on 15 September 1918. Covington remained in the Navy after the war, serving until retirement in 1935 and reaching the rating of chief steward. He died in Richmond, Virginia, on 21 November 1966 and was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery at Portsmouth, Virginia.