Honoring the Medal of Honor WinnersNice
little story about a guy who's dedicated himself to visiting the gravesites of winners of the Congressional Medal of Honor, and checking to see if there's mention of the award on the gravestone.
Here are some interesting Medal of Honor facts:
Congress created it in 1861 and has revised and toughened its terms over the years. By far, the most were awarded for service during the Civil War - 1,522, not counting 893 that were revoked during a strenuous review that was undertaken in 1917 after many veterans feared the granting of medals had gotten out of hand. Among those who lost their medals were the 29 soldiers in President Abraham Lincoln's funeral guard.
By World War I, the medal had attained the special significance it holds today. Only 124 Americans received the medal for valor during that war, compared with 424 granted for service during the Indian Wars of the late 1800s.
Since then, the honor roll is as follows: World War II, 464 medals; Korea, 131; Vietnam, 245; Somalia, two; Iraq, one.
The last was awarded posthumously to Army Sgt. Paul R. Smith, who protected his unit at Baghdad Airport on April 4, 2003, by firing a .50-caliber machine gun at attackers until he was fatally wounded.We covered
Sgt. Smith here and
here.
