Name Charles Gidding | Rank Seaman Awards Medal of Honor | |
Allegiance United States of America Service/branch United States Navy | ||
Canada 150 Charles Giddings
Charles Gidding or Giddings (born 1853, date of death unknown) was a United States Navy sailor and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor.
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Biography
Born in 1853 in Bangor, Maine, Gidding joined the Navy from that state. By July 26, 1876, he was serving as a seaman on the USS Plymouth. On that day, while Plymouth was at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Gidding and another sailor, Landsman William Corey, attempted to rescue a crewmate who had fallen from the ship's rigging into the water. For this action, both men were awarded the Medal of Honor two weeks later, on August 9. Another of Plymouth's crew, Seaman Thomas Kersey, rescued a shipmate from drowning on the same day and also received the medal.
Gidding's official Medal of Honor citation reads:
Serving on board the U.S.S. Plymouth, Gidding showed heroic conduct in trying to save the life of one of the crew of that ship, who had fallen overboard from aloft at the Navy Yard, New York, 26 July 1876.
Nothing is known of him after he deserted from the Navy in September 1876.