The Medal of Honor
My copy of the Marine Corps GAZETTE arrived today and as usual had a number of very interesting article even for an old retired grunt like me. One article caught my interest right away: “The Medal of Honor, An era of overprotection,” by Capt Wes J. Deaver. Actually, a photo with an errant caption caught my eye. There was a photograph of a display case with the MOH: “Col Jefferson DeBlanc won (sic) his Medal of Honor during World war II.”
If there had been a contest I would have won one. The MOH is earned and the men who receive it are MOH recipients NOT winners.
Then in reading the full article I found the most peculiar information. It has been nine years since the first Americans assaulted Afghanistan and as of 1 Dec 2009, 5,299 American servicemen and women have died. Yet of all these honorable men and women ONLY an unbelievable six have earned the MOH. Of these six MOHs awarded since the Global War on Terrorism began, all were awarded posthumously.
During the fiasco in Mogadishu in 2001, two members of Army Special Forces posthumously were awarded the MOH.
So, doing the math we have eight who has earned the MOH and all died to earn it.
Is death a requirement today to earn the MOH? Surely out of the thousands who have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan and earned the Distinguish Service Cross or the Navy Cross, one or two must have been of the “above and beyond the call of duty” for the MOH.
Then I read the most shocking story about a Marine Sgt Rafael Peralta who on 15 Nov 2004, was shot in the head and fell to the ground and as he laid there the insurgents threw a grenade where Sgt Peralta grabbed it and pulled it under his body thus saving the lives of his fellow marines. The entire chain of command including the Commandant of the Marine Corps and Secretary of the Navy approved the award recommendation.
Wait there’s more.
…