Medal Honor facts

While investigating facts about Medal Honor Game and Medal Honor Recipients, I found out little known, but curios details like:

I learned that Medal of Honor recipients are entitled to much more than the medal including a $1,300 monthly bonus, 10% retirement raise & may wear their uniform even after they are out of the service.

how many medal of honor recipients are there?

Dr. Mary Walker, an abolitionist, suffragist, surgeon, and the only female Medal of Honor recipient. She advocated for women to wear what they wanted. She’d often get arrested for wearing men's clothes, though she insisted "I don't wear men's clothes, I wear my own clothes."

What is the congressional medal of honor?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what happened to medal of honor. Here are 50 of the best facts about Medal Honor Warfighter and Medal Honor Pc I managed to collect.

what is the medal of honor?

When they tried to book a phone call from the President to inform Sgt Dakota Meyer that he had been approved for the Medal of Honor, White House staff were told he was working a construction job and to call back during his lunch hour.
3 years after illegally joining the Marines at the age of 14, Jack Lucas snuck onto a ship bound for Iwo Jima, stormed the beach without a rifle, and threw himself on top of two grenades to protect his team. He survived, and is the youngest person to earn the Medal of Honor at 17.
Medal of honor recipient Thomas Baker asked to left behind during a Japanese Counter Attack on Saipan due to being wounded. He only asked for 1 pistol with 8 bullets. After returning the US army found his corpse with 8 dead Japanese.
Two time Medal of Honor recipient Major General Smedley Butler wrote: "I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism."
In 1935 a USMC General and Medal of Honor recipient wrote a bestselling book describing how wars exist to enrich corporations.
Medal of Honor recipient Peter Lemon was stoned when he single-handedly fought off two rounds of Vietcong forces.
On 8 September 2009, Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer disobeyed a direct order from a superior to pull back from his position so he could rescue wounded soldiers from a firefight a mile away. He ended up going back five times, saved the lives of 36 soldiers, and won the Medal of Honor.
The two of the US pilots who were able to take off during the attack on Pearl Harbor and down 7 enemy aircraft in the process were denied the Medal of Honor because their commanding officer said they had "taken off without orders".
Theodore Roosevelt Jr was the only general to land on the beaches during D-Day. Although he was the oldest man on the beach and walked with a cane, he was the first man out of his landing craft. He recited poetry and joked with his men to keep them calm. He was awarded the Medal of Honor.
In 1965 Milton Olive III sacrificed his own life to save a group of soldiers by smothering a live grenade. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor award, becoming the first African American of the Vietnam War to do so.

medal honor facts — What is the highest medal of honor?

Why are there three different designs of the medal of honor?

You can easily fact check why do you get the medal of honor by examining the linked well-known sources.

A B-17 bomber named Old 666 survived being attacked by 20 Japanese fighters for 40 minutes. The pilot and a gunner earned the Medal of Honor, the rest of the crew each received the Distinguished Service Cross. To this day, they're the most decorated American aircrew in history.

The two of the US pilots who were able to take off during the attack on Pearl Harbor and down 7 enemy aircraft in the process were denied the Medal of Honor because their commanding officer said they had "taken off without orders". - source

Douglas Albert Munro, the only US Coast Guard to receive the Medal of Honor. Whilst providing cover for ground troops with his boat, Munro was fatally wounded. The last words he said were, "did they get off?" referring to the soldiers he'd saved. He was 22 years old. - source

Soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor receive a number of additional benefits, including a pension of $1,300 beyond any other retirement pay, space-available air travel on military transport for their entire lives, and admission to military academies for their children.

Francis P Hammerberg. During salvage efforts in Pearl Harbor, two Navy Divers became trapped when a piece of wreckage collapsed. By tunneling through 20' of mud and steel he saved both men but became trapped himself in the wreckage. He died 18 hours later and was awarded the Medal of Honor. - source

When was the last medal of honor awarded?

The janitor of the Air Force Academy was a Medal of Honor winner who went unnoticed for almost ten years until a cadet stumbled across his story in a history book. When the janitor passed away, he was buried at the cemetery and is the only non-air force enlisted man buried there.

How many medal of honor recipients?

A B-17 gunner put out an ammunition fire during a battle by urinating on it - later earning a Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor recipient, Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez. He had 37 puncture wounds, exposed intestine, broken jaw, and eyes caked in blood. He was pronounced dead until he spit in the face of a doctor who was zipping him up in a body bag.

3 years after illegally joining the Marines at the age of 14, Jacklyn Lucas snuck onto a ship bound for Iwo Jima, stormed the beach without a rifle, and threw himself on top of two grenades to protect his team. He survived, and earned the Medal of Honor at the age of 17.

U.S. Medal of Honor recipient Pililaʻau was found surrounded by 40 dead Korean soldiers and him holding a trench knife.

When was the first medal of honor?

During WWII Audie Murphy earned every US Army combat award for valor, and several French and Belgian awards for heroism. He earned the Medal of Honor at 19 for holding off a company of German soldiers for an hour, then leading a successful counter attack while out of ammo and wounded.

US Marine John Kelly was the last person to be awarded 2 Medals of Honor. He ran 100 yards in advance of the front line and attacked an enemy machine gun nest, killed the gunner with a grenade, shot another man with his pistol, and returned with 8 prisoners. He was 19.

After a ticker-tape parade to celebrate his Olympic medals, Jesse Owens was not permitted to enter through the main doors of the Waldorf Astoria and instead forced to travel up to the event in a freight elevator to reach the reception honoring him.

Lewis Lee Millett deserted the US Army when he thought they would not enter WW2 and joined the Canadian Army to fight. After the US Army joined WW2 he transferred back. In the Korean war he would be awarded the Medal Of Honor for leading the last major bayonet charge in American history.

About James Okubo, a Japanese American who was in college when WWII started studying dentistry, he was kicked out and sent to a Japanese internment camp in CA for 2 years. He then joined the Army as a medic and saved 25 men in a battle in 1944, was posthumously awarded the medal of honor in 2000

How many medal of honor recipients are still alive?

Nearly 60 percent of Medal of Honor recipients have been Irish-American, including 257 Irish natives.

Two-time Medal of Honor recipient Major General Smedley Butler recommended in his 1935 book 'War is a Racket' that industries should be conscripted before soldiers to limit war profiteering after his experiences in the Banana Wars and WWI.

The most decorated American unit in history is the 442nd Infantry Regiment, which was almost entirely made up of Japanese Americans. Out of the 14,000 who served, 9,486 earned the Purple Heart and 21 earned the Medal of Honor. The unit itself was awarded 8 Presidential Unit Citations.

During the bombing of Koriyama, Japan in April 1945, a white phosphorus bomb prematurely ignited in a B-29 plane. Crewman Henry Erwin picked up the bomb and threw it out the window, saving the plane and crew while suffering severe burns as a result. He was given a Medal of Honor for this action.

Peter Lemon, a Canadian volunteer in the US Army, who won the Medal of Honor for actions performed while stoned on marijuana in Vietnam

US Army medic Desmond T. Doss, a conscientious objector who refused to bear arms, yet was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Truman for single-handedly saving the lives of over 75 of his comrades while under constant enemy fire during the Battle of Okinawa

Desmond Doss is the first and only conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor. During the Battle of Okinawa, he aided and saved the lives of 75 wounded infantrymen. He did not carry a weapon or kill enemy soldiers.

US Navy SEAL Mike Thornton earned the Medal of Honor in Vietnam for saving the life of Thomas Norris, another SEAL, who would also later receive the Medal of Honor for a previous rescue mission, making it the first time in a century where a MOH recipient saved the life of another MOH recipient.

Union artillery officer Alonzo Cushing was killed after being wounded twice during the Battle of Gettysburg, refusing evacuation from his position atop Cemetery Ridge during Pickett’s Charge. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor 151 years later, the longest wait for any recipient.

Bill Crawford an Army private in World War II who assumed to have been killed received his Medal of Honor posthumously. After the war he became a janitor at the Air Force Academy where his identity unknown until a cadet found a picture of him in a book.

About Silvestre Herrera, a Mexican citizen and volunteer US soldier during WWII who received the Medal of Honor. He charged an enemy stronghold through a minefield, blowing off both of his feet. He continued fighting on his knees, pinning down the enemy and allowing his squad to capture it.

Medal of Honor recipient, Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez. He had 37 wounds from bullets, bayonets, and shrapnel. Thought to be dead, he spit in the face of a doctor who was zipping him up in a body bag.

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