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"Posthumous-Only" Policy for Medal of Honor - Past Recipients have picked up on it...
H/T The Donovan via BlackfiveAs I mentioned in yesterday's post, I went to a militaria show at Fort Leavenworth this weekend and had a great time, and accomplished some bloggish stuff, too. Living here in Leavenworth, we have access to some truly significant militaria. Real living history militaria. We have LTC(R) Chuck Hagemeister and COL(R) Roger Donlon. Colonel Donlon recieved the first Medal of Honor for action in Vietnam. He was at the show this weekend, selling his book, but mostly just being there and talking to people and letting the public meet a real public treasure. I took the opportunity to chat with Colonel Donlon about the fact that there have been no Medals awarded to a living recipient since Vietnam. 7 Medals have been awarded for post-Vietnam actions. Just to recap those names, because if you read this space, you should probably know them - Master Sergeant Gary Gordon, Sergeant First Class Randall Shugart, Sergeant First Class Paul Smith, Corporal Jason Dunham, Lieutenant Michael Murphy, Master At Arms 2nd Class Michael Monsoor, and Private First Class Ross McGinnis. After caveating that he has no more access to or influence upon the awards process than you or I do - he basically echoed my sentiment. He, too, reads every Distinguished Service Cross/ Navy Cross/ Air Force Cross citation, and he often asks himself, "Why wasn't this a Medal of Honor?" And, he said, many of the other Holders he communicates with on a regular basis ask the same question - or worse, "What am I doing with a Medal of Honor when this kid got a DSC?" So, again I pose the question to the DoD Leadership... "WTF, over?" If the MoH recipient grapevine's starting to talk about this, I'm guessing it's a safe bet that the Medal of Honor Society will get involved in an official way. It's all well and good for the DoD and the services to want to avoid "cheapening" the MoH, but it's unconscionable to make it a posthumous-only award. Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 2009-02-10 |
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