Medal of Honor
Lawrence Joel awarded Medal of Honor
For action this day in the Iron Triangle northwest of Saigon, Specialist Five Lawrence Joel, a medic with the 1st Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade is awarded the Medal of Honor, becoming the first living African American since the Spanish-American War to ...read more
Has anyone earned two Medals of Honor?
Some 3,500 Americans have received the Medal of Honor since it was first introduced in the 1860s, but to date, only 19 have earned the military’s highest award for valor on two occasions. The first was Civil War cavalryman Thomas Ward Custer, younger brother of George Armstrong ...read more
WWI Hero Henry Johnson Finally Receives Medal of Honor
In 1917, Henry Johnson was working as a railroad porter in Albany, New York, when the United States declared war on Germany. At the time, before the Selective Service Act introduced conscription, African-American volunteers were only allowed in four all-black regiments in the ...read more
The Medal of Honor: 6 Surprising Facts
1. At first, the idea of a Medal of Honor was dismissed as too “European.” During the American Revolution, George Washington established the first combat decoration in U.S. history, known as the Badge of Military Merit. After the conflict it fell into disuse, as did its ...read more
Medal of Honor created
President Abraham Lincoln signs into law a measure calling for the awarding of a U.S. Army Medal of Honor, in the name of Congress, “to such noncommissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldier-like qualities ...read more
First Medal of Honor action
The earliest military action to be awarded a Medal of Honor is performed by Colonel Bernard J.D. Irwin, an assistant army surgeon serving in the first major U.S.-Apache conflict. Near Apache Pass, in southeastern Arizona, Irwin, an Irish-born doctor, volunteered to go to the ...read more
Conscientious objector wins Medal of Honor
Private First Class Desmond T. Doss of Lynchburg, Virginia, is presented the Medal of Honor for outstanding bravery as a medical corpsman, the first conscientious objector in American history to receive the nation’s highest military award. When called on by his country to fight ...read more
Sergeant Duane D. Hackney receives Air Force Cross
Sergeant Duane D. Hackney is presented with the Air Force Cross for bravery in rescuing an Air Force pilot in Vietnam. He was the first living Air Force enlisted man to receive the award, the nation’s second highest award for bravery in action. ...read more
First Marine to receive Medal of Honor for action in Vietnam is killed
U.S.M.C. Lieutenant Frank Reasoner—who became the first Marine to be awarded the prestigious Medal of Honor for action in Vietnam—is killed by enemy fire on July 11, 1965. Reasoner and his battalion had been on a sweep of a suspected Viet Cong area to deter any enemy activity ...read more
Army Captain awarded first Medal of Honor for action in Vietnam
The first Medal of Honor awarded to a U.S. serviceman for action in Vietnam is presented to Capt. Roger Donlon of Saugerties, New York, for his heroic action earlier in the year. Captain Donlon and his Special Forces team were manning Camp Nam Dong, a mountain outpost near the ...read more
Air Force helicopter pilot rescues Special Forces team
While returning to base from another mission, Air Force 1st Lt. James P. Fleming and four other Bell UH-1F helicopter pilots get an urgent message from an Army Special Forces team pinned down by enemy fire. Although several of the other helicopters had to leave the area because ...read more
173rd Airborne trooper dives onto live grenade, saving comrades
In action on this day near Phu Cuong, about 35 miles northwest of Saigon, PFC Milton Lee Olive III of Company B, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, throws himself on an enemy grenade and saves four soldiers, including his platoon leader, 1st Lt. James Sanford. The action came during ...read more
Decorated U.S. soldier Audie Murphy is wounded
The most decorated man of the war, American Lt. Audie Murphy, is wounded in France. Born the son of Texas sharecroppers on June 20, 1925, Murphy served three years of active duty, beginning as a private, rising to the rank of staff sergeant, and finally winning a battlefield ...read more