John King

John King (February 7, 1865 – May 20, 1938) was an Irish sailor in the United States Navy and one of only 19 in history to receive the Medal of Honor twice. Born in the village of Currabee, near Ballinrobe (then in County Galway, now County Mayo), Ireland, King enlisted in the Navy as a coal passer in Vermont on July 20, 1893. He served on board USS Massachusetts in the Caribbean during the Spanish-American War, and, in 1900, was transferred to USS Vicksburg for service during the Philippine-American War. King received his first Medal of Honor while in Vicksburg "for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession at the time of the accident to the boilers... May 29, 1901." Eight years later, while a watertender on the USS Salem,...