Johannes Rouning (born Rønning; 11 May 1859 – ) was a

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. ...

. He was born in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in May 1859 and emigrated in 1881, at age 23 and became a U.S. citizen in 1892.''U.S., Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791–1992'' On May 7, 1882, Rouning was serving as an

ordinary seaman __NOTOC__ An ordinary seaman (OS) is a member of the deck department of a ship. The position is an apprenticeship to become an able seaman, and has been for centuries. In modern times, an OS is required to work on a ship for a specific amount o ...

on the 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 ...

. On that day, he and another sailor, Seaman

Christian Osepins Christian Osepins (1858–1887) was a Dutch-born United States Navy sailor and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor. Biography Osepins was born "Christiaan Osephius" in Schiedam to Gerritje Ruigrok an ...

, jumped overboard and rescued Gunner's Mate James Walters from drowning. For this action, both Rouning and Osepins were awarded the Medal of Honor two and a half years later, on October 18, 1884. Rouning'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.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rouning, Johannes 1859 births Year of death missing United States Navy sailors United States Navy Medal of Honor recipients Non-combat recipients of the Medal of Honor Norwegian-born Medal of Honor recipients Norwegian emigrants to the United States People from Trondheim

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