Born in 1862 in England, Norris immigrated to the United States and joined the Navy from New York.
Norris and another sailor, Ordinary Seaman Robert Augustus Sweeney, jumped into the water and rescued him.
For this action, both Norris and Sweeney were awarded the Medal of Honor the next year, on October 18, 1884.
[1]Norris is one of the hundreds of Medal of Honor recipients who are considered "lost to history", as his place of burial and other biographical details are unknown.
There are records of a sailor named John W. Norris who was born in March 1862, lived in Fall River, Massachusetts, and worked as a nurse before joining the U.S. Navy.