Jesse Whitfield Covington (September 16, 1889 – November 21, 1966) was an American sailor serving in the United States Navy during World War I who received the Medal of Honor for bravery.
Biography
Covington was born September 16, 1889, in Haywood County, Tennessee and after enlisting in the United States Navy was sent to France to fight in World War I. He retired from the Navy in 1935 as a chief petty officer.
He died November 21, 1966, and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Portsmouth, Virginia.
Medal of Honor citation
Rank and organization: Ship's Cook Third Class, U.S. Navy. Place and date: At sea aboard the , 17 April 1918. Entered service at: California. Born: 16 September 1889, Haywood, Tenn. G.O. No.: 403, 1918.
Citation:
For extraordinary heroism following internal explosion of the Florence H. The sea in the vicinity of wreckage was covered by a mass of boxes of smokeless powder, which were repeatedly exploding. Jesse W. Covington, of the U.S.S. Stewart, plunged overboard to rescue a survivor who was surrounded by powder boxes and too exhausted to help himself, fully realizing that similar powder boxes in the vicinity were continually exploding and that he was thereby risking his life in saving the life of this man.