William Henry Belpitt (May 3, 1860 - November 30, 1912) was a United States Navy sailor and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor.

[1] By October 7, 1884, he was serving in the U.S. Navy as Captain of the Afterguard on the USS Monocacy.

On that morning, while Monocacy was at Fuzhou, China, he jumped overboard and rescued a Chinese man whose canoe had capsized.

[2] Belpitt's official Medal of Honor citation reads: On board the U.S.S.

Jumping overboard from that vessel on the morning of this date, Belpitt sustained, until picked up, a Chinaman who had been thrown into the water by the capsizing of a canoe.