John Smith (Medal of Honor, born 1854)

He saved a shipmate from drowning in Rio de Janeiro harbour.

John Smith was born in Bermuda in 1854 and served as a seaman in the United States Navy. His surviving Medal of Honor record identifies him with USS Shenandoah during a peacetime deployment to South America. The ship was at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in September 1880.

On 19 September, Fireman First Class James Grady fell overboard while the vessel lay in the harbour. Smith went into the water to save him. Seaman William Morse also assisted in the rescue. Their prompt action prevented the drowning of a fellow member of the ship's company in an emergency that required men to enter the water rather than attempt the rescue from the deck alone.

Smith's Medal of Honor recognized his conduct at Rio de Janeiro. The award was promulgated in Navy General Order No. 326 on 18 October 1884. It belongs to the nineteenth-century history of the decoration, when conspicuous lifesaving service outside wartime could receive the Navy's highest recognition.

His official citation preserves his name, birthplace, rating, ship and the date and place of the rescue. Later commemoration in Bermuda has drawn attention to his service alongside other Bermudian recipients of United States military decorations.

Medal of Honor citation

For jumping overboard from the U.S.S. Shenandoah, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 19 September 1880, and rescuing from drowning James Grady, first class fireman.