John Lucy (born 1859, date of death unknown) 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. ...
.
Born in 1859 in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
New York
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* 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
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* '' ...
, Lucy joined the Navy from that state. By July 9, 1876, he was serving as a second class
boy
A boy is a young male human. The term is commonly used for a child or an adolescent. When a male human reaches adulthood, he is described as a man.
Definition, etymology, and use
According to the ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'', a boy is "a ...
on the training ship . On that day, he "displayed heroic conduct" during a fire at the
Castle Garden
Castle Clinton (also known as Fort Clinton and Castle Garden) is a circular sandstone fort within Battery Park at the southern end of Manhattan in New York City. Built from 1808 to 1811, it was the first American immigration station, predating ...
immigration facility in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. For this action, he was awarded the Medal of Honor weeks later, on July 27.
Lucy's official Medal of Honor citation reads:
Displayed heroic conduct while serving on board the U.S. Training Ship ''Minnesota'' on the occasion of the burning of Castle Garden at New York, 9 July 1876.
As Lucy was not more than 17 years old at the time of the incident, he is one of the youngest Medal of Honor recipients in history.
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
*
*
1859 births
Year of death missing
Military personnel from New York City
United States Navy sailors
United States Navy Medal of Honor recipients
Non-combat recipients of the Medal of Honor
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