Template:POTD/2025-01-12
.jpg)
John Henry Turpin (1876–1962) was a sailor in the United States Navy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was one of the first African-American chief petty officers in the U.S. Navy, becoming a chief gunner's mate on the cruiser Marblehead in 1917. He was transferred to the Fleet Reserve in 1919 and retired in 1925. He is also notable for surviving the catastrophic explosions of two U.S. Navy ships: USS Maine in 1898, and USS Bennington in 1905.Photograph credit: unknown photographer; restored by Adam Cuerden