This last day of Black History Month is a special day, as it is February 29, the extra day accorded to us, the living, on the occasion of a Leap Year. The last distinguishes itself from an ordinary, or Common Year, by having that extra day, which, being 24 hours, makes up every four years for the fact that the solar year is six hours longer than a calendar year.

Thus is Time, that most mysterious of human constructs, kept in balance, by catching up, so that we may control the calendars of our lives. The year 1880, when the central action of the story below took place, was also a Leap Year, as it is divisible by four.

On this special and extra last day of a special Heritage Month, we will look into the story of a person of African descent with the very ordinary name of John Smith, who received the extraordinary award of a "Medal of Honour" from the government of the United States of America.

Very little is known of John Smith and it is hoped that this article might bring some other information to light, especially from Bermuda sources. Mr. Edgar Wilkinson brought notice of John Smith to the attention of several of my Bermudian colleagues and we are grateful to him for the reference.

The Medal of Honor is the highest military award that is granted by the US Government and is the equivalent of the Victoria Cross in Britain or the Legion of Honour in France, to name the two other well-known honours at that level.

In combat situations, the Medal of Honour is awarded for "gallantry and intrepidity" that is well "beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States".

It should be said that such courage and fearlessness in the face of enemy action often had fatal consequences, so that many Medals of Honour have been awarded posthumously, that is after the recipient has paid for his gallantry with his life. The actual medal has a different shape for each of the major armed forces, being now the United States Army, Navy and Air Force and has evolved over time.

The Medal of Honor was established during the American Civil War in 1862 and is presented by the President, on behalf of the Congress of the United States. Its use and status are protected by law, so that action may be taken against makers of fake Medals of Honor, the wearing of the Medal when not entitled to it, and sometimes for the "unlawful sale" of such medals.

As recently as 2003, a man was jailed for selling the Medal of Honour awarded to Sergeant George Washington Roosevelt, US Army, in the Civil War. Some 3,464 Medals of Honor have been granted, with only one of these to a female. Nineteen men have received the award twice and one of those was an American of African descent.

The Medal of Honor has also been granted for action under non-combat conditions and a number of these came from accidents at sea, especially in the case of near-drownings. It was in such a situation that John Smith, US Navy, was given his Medal of Honor, after gallantry in 1880. The facts of the matter, and indeed of Seaman Smith himself, are few, if concise.

On September 19 that year, John Smith was serving on USS Shenandoah and while at Rio de Janeiro, he saved James Grady, Fireman First Class, from drowning. Four years later, on October 18, 1884, he was awarded a Medal of Honor for that bravery.

According to the US Navy records, John Smith was born at Bermuda in 1854, and so would have been a young man of 26 at the time of his gallantry at Rio. A search of records on hand in Bermuda by genealogist Mrs. A.C. Hollis Hallett brought to light one possible person, a John Archer Smith, the son of Frances Smith, who was baptised at St. George's on March 12, 1854.

While the legalities of those days may be unclear, we may assume that John Smith was a Bermudian as a right of his birthplace and we know that he was a black man from the US Navy files. It would therefore appear that John Smith, USN, was the first Bermudian of African descent, and possibly the only Bermudian, to receive the highest military award of the United States Government. If that is so, he is a person of major note in any Black History Month in these islands, yet we know little more about him.

John Smith's ship, the USS Shenandoah was a wooden screw sloop of the United States Navy and was built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1862. The ship was involved in Civil War actions, including the December 1864 attack on Fort Fisher, a Confederate Army stronghold, which was the "largest amphibious operation in American history prior to World War Two".

In the late 1860s, the vessel saw service in the Far East, followed by a stint on the European station in 1870-1874. Taken out of service, she was recommissioned at the New York Navy Yard in September 1879 and arrived in December at Rio de Janeiro as the flagship of Rear Admiral Andrew Bryson, commander of the South Atlantic Squadron, returning to New York in May 1882. A final cruise took place on the Pacific coasts of Central and South America and in 1887, USS Shenandoah was sold out of service in California.

It was during the South Atlantic tour of duty that John Smith rescued James Grady, for which act he was given the Medal of Honor. In honour of his memory, Lieutenant James Humphreys Jr., USNR and Captain Andrew Sinclair, USN (Ret.) of Bermuda, commissioned a plaque that records that event and its Medal of Honor award. The bronze tablet will be placed in the United States Navy Room at the Commissioner's House, to the memory of John Smith, USN, one of Bermuda's almost unknown soldiers.

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Dr. Edward Harris, MBE, JP, FSA, Bermudian, is the Executive Director of the Bermuda Maritime Museum. Comments can be sent to drharrislogic.bm or by telephone to 799-5480.