Medal of Honor

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Hegseth: Wounded Knee Soldiers Will Keep Medals

'We salute their memory,' he says of troops involved in 1890 Lakota Sioux massacre

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that he has decided that the 20 soldiers who received the Medal of Honor for their actions in 1890 at Wounded Knee will keep their awards. "This decision is now final, and their place in our nation's history is no longer up...

Train-Stealing Union Heroes Are Honored 162 Years Later

Emotional descendants accept Medal of Honor for Pvts. Philip Shadrach and George Wilson

(Newser) - Two Union soldiers who paid with their lives for conducting a daring mission 162 years ago behind Confederate lines were honored Wednesday at the White House, prompting an emotional reaction from their proud descendants. "Their heroic deeds went unacknowledged for over a century, but time did not erase their...

Civil War Train Thieves to Receive Medal of Honor

2 members of Andrews' Raiders to be recognized for role in Great Locomotive Chase

(Newser) - Two members of Andrews' Raiders, a legendary contingent of the Union Army that stole a Confederate train during the Civil War, are getting the Medal of Honor. Six members of the group, made up of 22 soldiers and two civilians, were awarded the very first Medals of Honor in the...

An Overlooked D-Day Hero Finally Gets His Due

WWII medic Waverly Woodson Jr. posthumously awarded Distinguished Service Cross

(Newser) - For 30 hours, as mortar shells rained around him on Omaha Beach, Army medic Cpl. Waverly Woodson Jr. treated wounded Allied soldiers, even while wounded himself. For that brave act, Woodson has been posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, "the second-highest military decoration that can be awarded to a...

Korean War Hero's Body Is Home After 73 Years

'We always believed that he would never be found,' Luther Story's niece says

(Newser) - Soldiers of the 9th Infantry Regiment made a desperate retreat as North Korean troops closed in around them. A wounded, 18-year-old Army Pfc. Luther Herschel Story feared his injuries would slow down his company, so he stayed behind to cover their withdrawal. Story’s actions in the Korean War on...

Vietnam Veteran Finally Receives Medal of Honor

Biden tells Black trailblazer and hero he represents the best of America

(Newser) - Nearly 60 years after he was recommended for the nation's highest military award, retired Col. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat, received the Medal of Honor on Friday for his bravery in the Vietnam War. After a crowded White...

Iwo Jima Hero Received Medal of Honor From Truman
One Final Honor
for Iwo Jima Hero
updated
Jul 4, 2022 2:00 AM CDT

One Final Honor for Iwo Jima Hero

Woody Williams, 98, will lie in honor at the US Capitol

(Newser) - Update: At a memorial Sunday in Charleston, West Virginia, Sen. Joe Manchin said Hershel W. "Woody" Williams, the last remaining Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, would lie in state at the US Capitol. But Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer announced he would actually lie in honor....

Biden Presents 3 Medals, 2 of Them Posthumously

Soldiers awarded Medal of Honor for valor

(Newser) - President Biden on Thursday presented the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award for valor in combat, to three soldiers who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. Two were recognized posthumously, per the AP .
  • Master Sgt. Earl Plumlee, a Special Forces soldier who fought off Taliban insurgents after an
...

Senators Urge Biden to Remove 'Shame on Nation'

They want him to revoke medals awarded after Wounded Knee massacre

(Newser) - Soldiers who gunned down Lakota women and children in one of the worst massacres in American history do not deserve the nation's highest military honor, 17 senators argued in a letter to President Biden this week. The lawmakers—16 Democrats and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders—said it was "...

Biden to Award First Medal of Honor Friday

Korean War vet Col. Ralph Puckett Jr. will be honored for acts of bravery

(Newser) - President Biden will award his first Medal of Honor this week to a retired colonel for acts of bravery during the Korean War, the White House announced Wednesday. Biden will bestow the nation's most prestigious military honor on retired Col. Ralph Puckett Jr., who held Hill 205, a strategic...

Revered Chaplain's Remains ID'd After 70 Years

Capt. Emil Kapaun, a Medal of Honor recipient, died a POW during Korean War

(Newser) - Ever since Capt. Emil Kapaun was reported to have died while being held prisoner in Korea in 1951, his family has been without remains to bury. Although relatives sought answers, the chaplain was among the 7,500 service members unaccounted for from the Korean War, CNN reports. But Kapaun was...

Black Soldier's Medal of Honor Nominations Kept Getting Lost

Teammates of Vietnam War hero Paris Davis wonder if race has been a factor in 55-year delay

(Newser) - In the Hall of Valor , Paris Davis, 81, is recognized with a Soldier's Medal for his actions during the Vietnam War on May 13, 1965. A group of veterans, however, including some of his former teammates, say what happened a month later should have earned Davis the Medal of...

Congress May Make Exception to Honor an Iraqi War Hero

Alwyn Cashe died after pulling others from burning vehicle in Iraq

(Newser) - Fifteen years after his act of heroism in Iraq, time has officially run out to posthumously award Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe the Medal of Honor. But the Defense Department hopes to make that happen anyway, assuming Congress grants a waiver of the five-year time limit, the Washington Post reports....

Green Beret Who Received Medal of Honor Dies at 41

Ronald Shurer II, who joined the Secret Service after the Army, had lung cancer

(Newser) - He was a Green Beret awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in Afghanistan, as well as a Secret Service staffer later in his career. Now, per the Army Times , both those organizations are mourning the loss of former Army Staff Sgt. Ronald Shurer II, who died...

For a Hero Coach, a High Honor
For a Hero Coach,
a High Honor
Mar 31, 2020 1:56 PM CDT

For a Hero Coach, a High Honor

Oregon's Keanon Lowe disarmed school gunman

(Newser) - It was a school gunman incident that ended like no other . And for his role in making sure nobody got hurt, Oregon's Keanon Lowe will receive the Congressional Medal of Honor Citizen Honor, reports the Oregonian . Lowe was the football coach at Parkrose High School last year when he...

Medals of Honor From Wounded Knee Could Be Revoked

Elizabeth Warren introduces Senate measure

(Newser) - Twenty US soldiers were awarded Medals of Honor for "gallantry" and "bravery" following the slaughter of hundreds of mostly unarmed Native Americans at Wounded Knee in 1890. A pair of bills are now seeking to have all those medals revoked. It's "about more than just rescinding...

He Famously Grabbed Blanket, Threw Himself on a Grenade
Man Who Represents the
'Best of America' Has Died
obituary
May 14, 2019 2:34 PM CDT

Man Who Represents the 'Best of America' Has Died

Nation's oldest Medal of Honor recipient dead at 98

(Newser) - World War II veteran Bob Maxwell, the nation's oldest Medal of Honor recipient, died Saturday in Bend, Oregon, more than seven decades after grabbing a blanket and throwing himself on a German hand grenade in France to save his squad mates. He was 98. The death was confirmed Monday...

Medal of Honor Helps Comrades Thank Selfless Marine

John Canley to be honored for rescuing wounded in Vietnam

(Newser) - Sgt. Maj. John L. Canley repeatedly risked his life to rescue fellow Marines during the Vietnam War, so they felt it only right to fight for him. Thanks to their efforts, Canley will on Wednesday become the 300th Marine to receive the Medal of Honor, usually bestowed within five years...

Medal of Honor Recipient Endured 'Hell' to Save 10

James McCloughan honored for his bravery in Vietnam

(Newser) - Saving a life may be a common bucket-list entry, but it's one that's rarely checked off. James McCloughan could've done so 10 times over two days in 1969. Ignoring his lieutenant's orders to evacuate Nui Yon Hill in Vietnam after shrapnel cut into his head and...

SEAL Team 6 Left Him for Dead. But Maybe He Wasn't
SEAL Team 6 Left Him for
Dead. But Maybe He Wasn't
in case you missed it
Sep 3, 2016 4:18 PM CDT

SEAL Team 6 Left Him for Dead. But Maybe He Wasn't

Inside the effort to award a Medal of Honor to Tech. Sergeant John Chapman

(Newser) - An incredible tale of bravery may have surfaced thanks to new "pixel signature" technology applied to 14-year-old videos—but it's a complicated revelation. The New York Times reports those videos, shot by overheard aircraft on March 4, 2002, may show Air Force Technical Sergeant John Chapman fighting al-Qaeda...

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