Christian Osepins
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Christian Osepins
OR:
Christian Osepins on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Christian Osepins (1858–1887) was a Dutch-born
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
sailor and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
.


Biography

Osepins was born "Christiaan Osephius" in
Schiedam Schiedam () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of Rotterdam, east of Vlaardingen, and south of Delft. In the south the city is connected with the village ...
to Gerritje Ruigrok and Johannes Osephius. Osephius immigrated to the United States and joined the Navy from
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
as Christian Osepins. By May 7, 1882, he was serving as a
Seaman Seaman may refer to: * Sailor, a member of a marine watercraft's crew * Seaman (rank), a military rank in some navies * Seaman (name) (including a list of people with the name) * ''Seaman'' (video game), a 1999 simulation video game for the Seg ...
on the . On that day, while ''Fortune'' was at
Hampton Roads, Virginia Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic O ...
, he and another sailor, Ordinary Seaman Johannes Rouning, jumped overboard and rescued Gunner's Mate James Walters from drowning. For this action, both Osepins and Rouning were awarded the Medal of Honor two and a half years later, on October 18, 1884. Osepins had not claimed his medal as of 1898, and the decoration remained in the possession of the
Navy Department Navy Department or Department of the Navy may refer to: * United States Department of the Navy, * Navy Department (Ministry of Defence), in the United Kingdom, 1964-1997 * Confederate States Department of the Navy, 1861-1865 * Department of the Na ...
. Osepins's official Medal of Honor citation reads:
For jumping overboard from the U.S. Tug ''Fortune'', 7 May 1882, at Hampton Roads, Va., and rescuing from drowning James Walters, gunner's mate.
Osepns died only 3 years later and was buried in his hometown of Schiedam.


See also

*
List of Medal of Honor recipients in non-combat incidents Prior to 1963, the Medal of Honor could be awarded for actions not involving direct combat with "an enemy of the United States" or "opposing foreign force (actions against a party in which the U.S. is not directly engaged in war with).DoD Awards ...


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Osepins, Christian 1858 births 1887 deaths Dutch emigrants to the United States Foreign-born Medal of Honor recipients Non-combat recipients of the Medal of Honor People from Schiedam United States Navy sailors United States Navy Medal of Honor recipients