By Honor Bound by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-03-21T04:00:00+00:00

PART THREE

THE AWARD AND LIFE AFTER THE AWARD

ABOVE AND BEYOND

There is a saying among Medal of Honor recipients that it’s more difficult to wear the Medal than to earn the Medal. While the criteria for earning this highest of all military awards for heroism is steep and singular, much is expected from those who wear the Medal. Yet it all begins with heroism in combat. The action for which a recipient receives the Medal is often a life-changing event—literally. Since the beginning of World War II, 60 percent of all awards have been posthumous. That ratio between living and posthumous awards since Vietnam even more dramatically favors the posthumous. For those who do survive and are privileged to live with this distinction, theirs becomes a life before the award and a life after. Most find that it is both a heavy burden and a humbling one. In all cases, there is change. America has evolved to bestow nobility on those who achieve success in the media, political, and corporate worlds, but it confers a very special status for those who receive the Medal of Honor.

Like America and its military, the Medal has evolved in its form and the criteria for which it is awarded. Yet since 1942, it has been reserved only for those in combat action, and the requirements have been somewhat standardized. Public Law 88-77 of 25 July 1963 codified those requirements. A recipient has to “distinguish himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.” Such conduct must occur under one of the following circumstances:

1. While engaged in action against an enemy of the United States.

2. While engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force.

3. While serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.

Awards are usually initiated by the commander in the field, documented by at least two eyewitnesses, and passed up the chain of command in a highly regulated and formatted process as detailed by Title 10 of the U.S. Code. Recommendations for the Medal are made in compliance with specific procedures established by the service secretaries, and these recommendations are passed along, with supporting documentation, to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Once endorsed by the chairman, the recommendation for conferring the award is passed on to the secretary of defense.

Given the rigorous criteria for the award and the public honor afforded a recipient, there has been controversy over who does and does not qualify for the Medal. There are statutory time frames for submission and the awarding of the Medal, yet exceptions have been made to those existing parameters. Without getting into the controversy and, yes, the politics of the Medal, the criteria for the award, since the conferring of the first medal in 1863, have become increasingly more stringent. Yet who receives or does not receive the Medal is subjective. In

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