By Joan Soley
Observer Staff
Feb. 6, 2008
Thousands have been awarded the Medal of Honor, but the odds of ever meeting a recipient are virtually nil.
Compiled by JOAN SOLEY
Observer Staff
Feb. 6, 2008
* The first award of the Medal of Honor was in 1863.
* 3,470 Medals of Honor have been awarded.
* Today, there are 107 living recipients of the Medal of Honor.
* 43% of the living recipients earned their medals more than 50 years ago while serving in WWII (32) or Korea (14).
* The most recent Medal of Honor given was awarded to Michael P. Murphy, posthumously, on Oct. 22, 2007 for his actions in Afghanistan in 2005.
* Mary Walker is the only woman to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (Bull Run on July 21, 1861).
* There are 19 double awardees of the medal.
* William Carney was the first black recipient. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on July 18, 1863 at Fort Wagner, S.C.
* There have been 87 black medal recipients.
* There have been 41 Hispanic medal recipients.
* There have been 31 Asian-American medal recipients.
* There have been 22 American Indian medal recipients.
Information provided by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society
Only 107 medal recipients are still alive today, and that group’s youngest member is 57 years old.
Simultaneously, the group’s numbers are not growing: the three men awarded the Medal of Honor during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan did not live to wear their star on blue ribbon.
The Medal of Honor is the most prestigious award given by the U.S. military, in every service branch and to officers and enlisted personnel alike.
The medal recognizes the precious few who, in a combat situation, perform self-sacrificing acts that demand their singling out.
According to the U.S. Army Center of Military History’s Web site, “The President, in the name of Congress, has awarded more than 3,400 Medals of Honor to our nation’s bravest Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen since the decoration’s creation in 1861.”
Brian Thacker is one of the 107 living medal beneficiaries, and he is also The Congressional Medal Of Honor Society’s Washington representative.
On March 31, 1971, 1st Lt. Thacker was serving in Vietnam like thousands of his countrymen. After an all-day outnumbered assault on his group’s position in Kontum Province, Thacker made the decision to stay and provide covering fire, giving the rest of his battery the chance to escape. He then called in artillery fire on his own position to give those escaping maximum time, and was injured as a result.
Photo courtesy of www.cmohs.org
Medal of Honor recipients Brian Thacker and Gary Littrell (l-r), at the FBI Building in 2004.
Thacker said his father received a phone call more than two years later. The Army was looking for his son. That’s when Thacker found out he was to be awarded the medal.
“From the unit-level up to the Dept. of Defense, every step of the Chain-of-Command must agree on the recommendation…and then the different [military service branches] look at one another’s MOH [Medal of Honor] recommendations,” said Thacker, by way of explaining the long time delay.
Thacker said he feels that too few of the medals are awarded.
“The FBI has a file on frauds who claim to have received a MOH, and there are more frauds than living recipients…The problem is the event has to be witnessed, and confirmed, and that can be hard to come by in small units,” said Thacker. “You also need pretty good writers at an early level [of MOH recommendation]… [Commanders] have to like you and be willing to ‘politic’ for you.”
Thacker explained that commanders can potentially serve as a roadblock to the medal.
“You get the ones who say we don’t go to war for awards, and those who say part of war is recognizing the sacrifices made by some…there are medal-hungry units, and units that shun awards”, said Thacker.
Currently, Thacker is an appointed officer of The Congressional Medal Of Honor Society.
The group serves to unite medal recipients; protect and help them, and their families, when necessary.
Lt. Michael P. Murphy’s family was presented with his Medal of Honor in October of 2007.
Photo courtesy of www.navy.mil
Navy SEAL Lt. Michael P. Murphy, killed in Afghanistan in 2005 who received the Medal of Honor in October of 2007.
Murphy died during Operation Redwing in Afghanistan in 2005; outnumbered and surrounded, he left a protected position to make a call for help for the SEAL team with him.
Cpl. Jason Dunham’s parents were given his Medal of Honor in January of 2007.
Dunham died in 2004, days after throwing his helmet and his body on a grenade in Iraq to shield the Marines around him from the blast. The book The Gift of Valor, by Michael M. Phillips, is about Cpl. Dunham’s life and military actions.
Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith’s family received his Medal of Honor in April of 2005; Smith died in Iraq in 2003, having put himself in an exposed position that allowed him to man a machine gun, therefore giving others the chance to help the wounded.
As written on the society’s Web site “No amount of money, power or influence can buy one’s rite of passage to this exclusive circle, and unlike almost any other organization, this group’s members hope that there will be NO MORE INDUCTEES.”
That, however, seems unlikely for a nation at war.
Excellent info. – Thanks!
“Mtn Mel”- Deweese Ret. USN SERE