Medal of Honor
For the computer game, see Medal of Honor (computer game).
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by United States. It is awarded "for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty." Three different medals currently exist for each of the major branches of the U.S. armed forces: one each for the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
There are two ways to receive Medal of Honor. The first is being nominated by the chain of command or by a special act of the U.S. Congress. Medals awarded through the second path are sometimes called Congressional Medals of Honor; however, no such medal officially exists.
The Army Medal of Honor was first awarded during the American Civil War and was last awarded for action that occurred during the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993. The criteria for the award became more strict after World War I. In all, 3,459 Medals of Honor have been awarded. Since the beginning of World War II only 851 have been awarded, with 525 of these have been posthumously.
The rare soldier who wears the Medal of Honor is accorded special privileges that include higher pay, preference for their children at the U.S. military academies, and the respect and admiration of all other service persons.
Congressional Medal of Honor
Although all Medals of Honor are sometimes called by the name "Congressional Medal of Honor," standard military practice is to refer to them simply as the "Medal of Honor" (all references in the U.S. Code refer to it as such, as do the individual military services). In U.S. Code Title 18, Section 704, only the ordinance establishing penalties for misuse calls it the "Congressional Medal of Honor." Congress authorized a "Congressional Medal of Honor Society," while the museum is called the "National Medal of Honor Memorial."
Most Medals of Honor have been awarded by the chain of command. However, Congress has occasionally bypassed this process, passing special bills that the President subsequently signs into law, mandating an award of the Medal of Honor to a specific soldier or soldiers. This is the origin of the "Congressional Medal of Honor" term. This process has been followed to award the medal to United States unknown soldiers entombed at Arlington National Cemetery from World War II, the Korean War. It was also awarded to World War I unknown soldiers of Britain, France, Italy, and Romania. This process most recently occured when Congress passed legislation mandating the award to Humbert R. Versace, Jon E. Swanson, and Ben L. Salmon as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002. This became Public Law 107-107, which was signed on December 28, 2001.
Authority and privileges
The U.S. Army Medal of Honor was first authorized by joint resolution of Congress on July 12, 1862. The specific authorizing ordinance is found in U.S. Code, Title 10, Subtitle B, Part II, Chapter 357, Section 3741:
- "The President may award, and present in the name of Congress, a medal of honor of appropriate design, with ribbons and appurtenances, to a person who while a member of the Army, distinguished himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty."
Later authorizations created similar medals for other branches of the service.
The Medal of Honor confers special privileges on its recipients both by tradition and by law. By tradition, all other soldiers, sailors, and airmen, even higher-ranking officers, initiate the salute. By law, awardees have several benefits:
- Each Medal of Honor awardee may have his name entered on the Medal of Honor Roll (38 USC 560). Each person whose name is placed on the Medal of Honor Roll is certified to the Department of Veterans Affairs as being entitled to receive the special pension of $1027 per month. As of December 1, 2004, the pension is subject to cost of living increases).
- Enlisted recipients of the Medal of Honor are entitled to a supplemental uniform allowance.
- Recipients receive special entitlements to air transportation under the provisions of DOD Regulation 4515.13-R.
- Special identification cards and commissary and exchange privileges are provided for Medal of Honor recipients and their eligible dependents.
- Children of recipients are eligible for admission to the United States service academies without regard to the quota requirements.
- Recipients get a ten percent increase in retired pay under 10 USC 3991, subject to the 75% limit on total retired pay.
- Those awarded the Medal after October 23, 2002 also receive a Medal of Honor Flag (14 USC 505).
Evolution of awarding criteria
The medal was first awarded to six Union soldiers who hijacked the Confederate locomotive "The General." James J. Andrews, who led the raid, was a civilian. Andrews did not get the medal because it was originally given only to enlisted men. Army officers first received them in 1891 and Naval officers in 1915. Many Medals of Honor awarded in the 19th century were associated with saving the flag, not just for patriotic reasons, but because the flag was a primary means of battlefield communication.
During the Civil War, Secretary of War Stanton was in a bind for troops. He promised a Medal of Honor to every man in the 27th Regiment, Maine Infantry who extended his enlistment beyond the agreed upon date. Many stayed an extra four days and then were discharged. Due to confusion, Stimson awarded a Medal of Honor to every man in the regiment, in all 864 different members.
In 1916, a law was passed calling for a board of five Army generals to review every Army Medal of Honor awarded. The commission, led by Nelson Miles, recommended that the Army rescind 911 medals. This included 864 medals awarded to members of the 27th Maine, 29 who served as Abraham Lincoln's funeral guard, 6 civilians (including Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, the only woman to ever be awarded the medal, and Buffalo Bill Cody), and 12 others whose awards were judged frivolous.
The Navy, early in the 20th century, awarded many medals of honor for peacetime bravery. For instance, seven medals were awarded to sailors aboard the USS Iowa when a boiler exploded on January 25, 1904. Aboard the USS Chicago in 1901, John Henry Helms was awarded the medal for saving Ishi Tomizi, the ship's cook, from drowning. Even after World War I, the medal was awarded to Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett for exploration of the North Pole. Thomas John Ryan received it for saving a woman from the burning Grand Hotel in Yokohama, Japan following the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake.
Between 1919 and 1942, the Navy issued two separate versions of the Medal of Honor, one for peacetime bravery and the other for combat actions against the enemy force. The peacetime Medal of Honor was known as the "Tiffany Cross", after the company which manufactured the medal. The Tiffany Cross was first issued in 1919 and was highly rare and also unpopular. As a result, the United States Navy reverted to a single Medal of Honor, awarded only for heroism, in 1942.
Since the beginning of World War II, the medal has only been awarded for extreme bravery above and beyond the call of duty, where a servicemember consistently and persistently put his comrades' safety foremost, to the utter disregard of his own life, while engaged in action against an enemy. It is often, although not always, awarded posthumously.
The most recent action for which it was awarded occurred during the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993, when MSG Gary Gordon and SFC Randy Shughart lost their lives defending downed Black Hawk helicopter pilot CWO Michael Durant.
Appearance
The Medal of Honor has evolved in appearance since its creation in 1862. The present day Army medal consists of a gold star surrounded by a wreath, topped by an eagle on a bar inscribed with the word "Valor." The medal is attached to a thick blue ribbon, which is then worn around the neck.
The United States Navy and United States Air Force have different designs; United States Marines receive the Navy's version of the Medal of Honor.
The Air Force Medal of Honor is the only one of the service MOHs which remains unchanged in appearance since its conception, in 1965.
The Coast Guard Medal of Honor, which was distinguished from the Navy medal in 1963, has never been awarded. No design yet exists for it. It is considered a conjectural decoration by the Institute of Heraldry.
Only one member of the Coast Guard has ever received a Medal of Honor, Douglas Munro, who was awarded the medal for action at Guadalcanal. Since his Coast Guard unit was attached to the Navy at the time, Munro was awarded the Navy's version of the Medal of Honor.
Legal protection
The Medal of Honor is the only service decoration that cannot be privately bought, traded, or sold. All Medals of Honor are issued in the original only, by the Department of Defense, to a recipient.
After the Army redesigned their medal in 1903, a patent was issued (United States Patent #D37,236) to legally prevent others from making the medal. When the patent expired, the Federal government enacted a law making it illegal to produce, wear, or distribute the Medal of Honor without proper authority.
Violators of this law have been prosecuted. In 2003, two persons, Edward and Gisela Fedora, were charged with violating Title 18, U.S.C. §704 - Unlawful Sale of a Medal of Honor. They sold medals awarded to US Navy Seaman Robert Blume (for action during the Spanish-American War) and to US Army First Sergeant George Washington Roosevelt (for action during the Civil War) to an FBI agent.
Although it is illegal to wear the Medal of Honor without authorization, it is not illegal to claim to be a recipient, unless such a claim is made with the intent of securing veteran benefits. A large number of veteran organizations and private companies devote themselves to exposing those who falsely claim entitlement to the Medal of Honor.
Medals of Honor statistics
A total of 3,459 medals have been awarded to 3,408 different people. Nineteen men received a second award: fourteen of these men received two separate Medals for two separate actions; five received both the Navy and the Army Medals of Honor for the same action. Since the beginning of World War II, 851 medals of honor have been awarded, 525 posthumously.
The only female Medal of Honor awardee was Mary Edwards Walker, a Civil War surgeon. Her medal was rescinded in 1917 along with many other non-combat awards. It was restored by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.
The process for military awards was beset by racial discrimination. A 1992 study commissioned by the Army described systematic racial discrimination in the criteria for awarding medals during World War II. At the time, no Medals of Honor had been awarded to black soldiers who served in World War II. After an exhaustive review of files the study recommended that several black Distinguished Service Cross recipients be upgraded to the Medal of Honor. On January 13, 1997 President Bill Clinton awarded the medal to seven African American World War II veterans. A similar study of Asian Americans in 1998 resulted in President Clinton awarding 21 new Medals of Honor in 2000. One of the recipients was Senator Daniel Inouye.
By conflict
| Conflict | Awards |
|---|---|
| Civil War | 1522 |
| Indian Wars | 426 |
| Korean Expedition | 15 |
| Spanish-American War | 110 |
| Samoan Civil War | 4 |
| Philippine-American War | 86 |
| Boxer Rebellion | 59 |
| Mexican Campaign | 56 |
| Invasion of Haiti | 8 |
| Occupation of the Dominican Republic | 3 |
| World War I | 124 |
| Occupation of Nicaragua | 2 |
| World War II | 464 |
| Korean War | 131 |
| Vietnam War | 245 |
| Battle of Mogadishu | 2 |
| Peacetime | 192 |
| Unknowns | 9 |
By branch of service
| Service | Awards |
|---|---|
| Army | 2400 |
| Navy | 745 |
| Marines | 296 |
| Air Force | 17 |
| Coast Guard | 1 |
Similar decorations
The following decorations bear similar names to the Medal of Honor, but are considered separate awards with different criteria for issuance.
- Congressional Space Medal of Honor
- Congressional Gold Medal of Honor
- Cardenas Medal of Honor
- Chaplain's Medal for Heroism
The following countries have high military awards similar to the Medal of Honor:
- United Kingdom and Commonwealth: Victoria Cross
- Poland: Virtuti Militari
- France: Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honor)
The following obsolete military decorations were similar to the Medal of Honor
Related articles
See also
References
- Congressional Medal of Honor Society. (2004) Official Society of Medal of Honor Recipients Retrieved November 23, 2004.
- US Army Center for Military History
- US Army Human Resources Command. Medal of Honor designs
- Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2003) Press Release on illegal sale of the Medal of Honor Accessed November 23, 2004.
- C. Douglas Sterner. (2004) 1917 Army Purge Retrieved November 23, 2004.
- US Army Center for Military History Asian American WWII veteran review