Awards Medal of Honor Award Medal of Honor Service/branch United States Navy | Died 17 September 1940 Rank Landsman Allegiance United States of America | |
Born November 28, 1861
Portsmouth, Virginia ( 1861-11-28 ) Place of burial Oak Grove Cemetery, Portsmouth, Virginia | ||
James Francis O'Conner (November 28, 1861 – September 17, 1940) was a United States Navy sailor and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor.
Biography
Born on November 28, 1861, in Portsmouth, Virginia, O'Conner joined the Navy from that state. By June 15, 1880, he was serving as a landsman in the engineering department of the USS Jean Sands. On that night, while Jean Sands was outside the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, he and another sailor, Landsman William Sweeney, jumped overboard and rescued a young girl from drowning. For this action, both O'Conner and Sweeney were awarded the Medal of Honor four years later, on October 18, 1884.
O'Conner's official Medal of Honor citation reads:
For jumping overboard from the U.S.S. Jean Sands, opposite the Norfolk Navy Yard, on the night of 15 June 1880, and rescuing from drowning a young girl who had fallen overboard.
O'Conner died on September 17, 1940, at age 78 and was buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in Portsmouth.