Medal Of Honor Ps5

By serving, remembering, supporting, and honoring the sacrifice of the Recipients, by sharing the stories and values inherent in them, we understand the responsibility and potential within each one of us to inspire the world.

This article is part of a weekly series called "Medal of Honor Monday," in which we highlight one of the more than 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients who have earned the U.S. military's highest medal for valor.

Medal Of Honor Ps5

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The Medal of Honor is the nation's highest medal for valor in combat that can be awarded to members of the armed forces. The medal was first authorized in 1861 for Sailors and Marines, and the following year for Soldiers as well. Since then, more than 3,400 Medals of Honor have been awarded to members of all DoD services and the Coast Guard.

In 2002, Congress, through the Defense Authorization Act, called for a review of Jewish American and Hispanic American veteran war records from WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, to ensure those deserving the Medal of Honor were not denied because of prejudice. During the review, records of several Soldiers of neither Jewish nor Hispanic descent were also found to display criteria worthy of the Medal of Honor. The 2002 Act was amended to allow these Soldiers to be honored with the upgrade - in addition to the Jewish and Hispanic American Soldiers.

In 1897, the park historically known as Independence Square was set aside by the City of Boston for public open space. In 1981, the first memorial honoring Vietnam Veterans in the nation was constructed at Medal of Honor Park. Each September a ceremony to rededicate the memorial is held.

The American victory over Spain placed the nation among the world's great powers. For Roosevelt, the Spanish-American War fulfilled a lifelong dream. While friends in the newspaper business ensured that his exploits in Cuba were not overlooked by the public, the future President yearned for even greater acclaim. He coveted the country's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor. Despite an intense lobbying effort by some of his superior officers and a close friend, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Roosevelt's request for the medal was denied by the War Department. Questions remain as to whether Roosevelt was refused the Medal of Honor because he was undeserving or if friction between himself and the War Department was the actual reason for denial.

Before Roosevelt and his Rough Riders left Cuba for the United States, he commenced fighting another, personal, battle. General Wheeler promised to recommend him to the War Department for a Medal of Honor, and his good friend Leonard Wood got the ball rolling by submitting the first endorsement on July 6. In a letter to the War Department Adjutant General's office in Washington, Wood plainly stated that "I have the honor to recommend Lieut. Col. Theodore Roosevelt . . . for a Medal of Honor for distinguished gallantry in leading a charge on one of the entrenched hills to the east of the Spanish position in the suburbs of Santiago de Cuba, July First, 1898."(31)

Roosevelt also pushed the Medal of Honor issue to his long-time companion, Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. Roosevelt boasted to him "that General Wheeler intends to recommend me for the Medal of Honor; naturally I should like to have it." In a another letter to Lodge complaining about the deplorable conditions in Cuba and the deaths that might result from the malaria, Roosevelt reflected upon his own possible death. He told Lodge that "if I do go, I do wish you would get that medal for me anyhow, as I should awfully like the children to have it, and I think I earned it."(32)

Although Roosevelt may have deemed Meikeljohn's response a snub, his application was indeed one of many pouring into the War Department. Joining him on the Medal of Honor and Brevet list were more than fifty other veterans of the Spanish-American War. In order to deal with each case in a fair manner, Secretary of War Alger established on November 9, 1898, a "board of officers . . . for the purpose of making recommendations for brevet promotions, the awards of medals of honor, and certificates of merit for the officers, and enlisted men who participated in the campaigns of Santiago, the Philippines, and Porto Rico."(34)

He prepared himself for possible denial after learning from Senator Lodge that Secretary Alger had told him at a White House dinner that the Rough Rider would not receive the medal. Roosevelt also claimed that Alger had made this announcement to others on a number of occasions. He wrote to Leonard Wood and told him "pray do not think of the medal anymore. There is nothing to be done about it. I really care more for the recommendations for it than the medal itself."(37) In a letter to Gen. Francis Vinton Greene, Roosevelt vented his frustrations about Alger: "You will readily understand however, that both my friends and myself feel that when the Secretary announces in advance publicly and repeatedly that the medal must not and will not be given, this mere fact itself amounts to coercion of the Board, and I shall think that the Board might better sensitiveness about the coercion than about my friends having called in consequence of the Secretary's public statements."(38)

Roosevelt also expressed these same feelings in a barrage of letters to the office of the Adjutant General of the War Department, Henry C. Corbin. Corbin responded that "one word as to the reported remark of the Secretary of War that 'you were not entitled to a medal of honor.' I am fully persuaded that the Secretary never made any such statement to any one. My relations with the Secretary have been intimate and your name has been frequently mentioned and there was never a suggestion from him that was not full of kindly regard and appreciation. What he probably did say was 'the case as presented by General Wood would not, under the rules of the office, entitle you to this consideration,' and you must agree that Wood's recommendation was lacking in the special features that warrant the issuance of medals to any one. As you have written him, I hope he will be able to set forth in detail just why it should be done. Should he do this, I undertake to say the Secretary will share with me the pleasure of bestowing this honor upon you."(39)

With the Medal of Honor issue dragging on, Roosevelt's emotions took on a childlike, vindictive tone. In a letter to Gen. Bradley Tyler Johnson, he wrote, "I do not believe the War Department has the slightest intentions of granting it, and I have really given up thinking about it. You see I cannot blame the War Department for feeling bitterly toward me now, for I have hit, and intend to hit them, hard for what they have done and left done and left undone, and I am rather pleased than otherwise that they should have given me no excuse to feel under any obligation to them. Now they can grant me the medal or not, just as they wish, for it will not make a particle of difference in what I shall write about them."(41) When Roosevelt states that "I have hit the War Department hard," he is most likely referring to the Round Robin affair and his testimony before the "Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Department in the War With Spain."

The reasons behind Roosevelt's adamancy about getting the Medal of Honor are open to conjecture, but political ambition was certainly one of his motives. Clearly Roosevelt had sights on the presidency, and the medal was the perfect vehicle to help get him into the White House. He may also have been in awe of the Medal of Honor recipients with whom he served in Cuba: Nelson A. Miles, William R. Shafter, Henry W. Lawton, Robert Lee Howe, and Leonard Wood. As an overly confident volunteer, Roosevelt hoped for acceptance by the regular officers. In his eyes, the Medal of Honor would put him on the same level as the career soldiers. Politically, not receiving the Medal of Honor certainly did not impede Roosevelt's career as a civil servant. Because of his participation in the Spanish-American War, he was considered one of the most popular and colorful political figures in the United States. Almost immediately after the war, Roosevelt was elected governor of New York, then selected by McKinley as his vice president, then became President of the United States. His political successes were a direct result of the image he made for himself in Cuba.

During the waning days of December 1861, President Abraham Lincoln signed a Congressionally-approved bill (Public Resolution 82) creating 200 "medals of honor," specifically for enlisted Navy personnel. In July 1862, President Lincoln authorized 2,000 Army medals. Like the Navy medals, these were to be "presented, in the name of the Congress" to enlisted personnel who "distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldier-like qualities" during the Civil War. By this time, eighty-eight soldiers had already performed actions for which they eventually received the Medal of Honor. During the Civil War, there was no time limit between the action and award so many recipients gained Medals of Honor in the years after the war ended.

The first recipients of the Medal of Honor were the men known collectively as Andrews' Raiders, who led a daring military mission behind Confederate lines to steal a train, escape north in order to destroy rail lines supplying the Confederate Army. The twenty-two soldiers and one civilian who participated in the "Great Locomotive Chase" were led by civilian James J. Andrews. Six raiders received the Medal of Honor on March 25, 1863. The other thirteen received the medal later; Andrews, a civilian, did not qualify for it.

On March 3, 1863, both services made the decoration permanent. In addition, the Army extended eligibility for the Medal of Honor to officers as well as enlisted personnel. The Navy medal remained available only for enlisted personnel until 1915.

The Civil War was an era of new and changing military technology and slowly evolving military tactics, as a result some of the Medal of Honor citations vary from modern presentations. For instance, medals were awarded for flag capture. In the Civil War, regimental flags still played a major role in guidance and troop movement during the heated din of battle. Loss of a flag meant troop confusion, disarray, and could lead to disaster. As such, the regimental colors had great military significance. Additionally, colors often were paid for by the communities from which the regiment came. Therefore, the flags were a symbol of pride and sentimentality for the soldiers. Flag capture often brought low morale and shame to the military unit. 9af72c28ce