The US Postal Service (or is that an oxymoron?) is issuing a set of naval themed stamps:
William Simms I had remembered from my Boat School days, he was an innovator and reformer who flogged the Navy into precise naval gunfire. And everyone knows about Admiral Arleigh “31 knot” Burke, who drove his squadron so hard at the Battle of Cap St. George that a boiler blew. Dorie Miller’s fame is ensured as the mess cook who manned the guns at Pearl Harbor.
But I had to admit innocence of John McCloy, one of the very few servicemen ever to be awarded two Medals of Honor, not to mention a Navy Cross.
Standards for awarding of the CMOH have of course changed over the years, but it has not been until recently that the award became almost de facto a posthumous one. Not to say that the nation’s highest military honor should be passed about like candy, but I wonder what motivational effect attends to having an actual, living awardee walking about in ranks might be.
It appears we’ll never know.
One of the common jokes among fighter pilots about the rarity of such ever receiving the award (aside from that little problem of the minimum of “two persons observing” rule) was that they didn’t want to give it to anybody that would embarrass the service/disgrace the uniform by walking around saying F**K all the time in public. LOL. Perhaps with the neo-prohibitionists now firmly in control they’ve decided best not to risk any more like Ira Hayes* staggering around either…..
(not a CMOH awardee, but given the public profile of one–and then some–immortalized with his fellow standard-raisers)
It is one of the highest honors bestowed and one that no one wants as it is USUALLY given to your family posthumously – Adm. Stockwell got one for enduring being beaten, starved, isolated, even cutting himself to prevent being used for propaganda….
I never dwelled on medal but rather focused on HOW we should conduct ourselves while in uniform and always. here are some words from US Senator John McCain, and they state what everyone should strive for….I have dedicated my life to attempting to live up to his standard.
” In John Kennedy’s memorable phrase, “without belittling the courage with which men have died, we should not forget the courage with which men have lived.” I’ve seen more than my fair share of both kinds. And I could not forget them if I wanted to.
I wish I could pretend to you and to myself that my efforts were comparable to the courage with which I have seen many good men live and die, and whose inspiration has given me heart in difficult times. But I cannot. For my actions are less a profile in courage than a profile in shame.
When I was a young man, and all glory was self-glory, I responded aggressively and often irresponsibly to anyone who questioned my honor…. But as I grew older, and the challenges to my self-respect became more varied and difficult, I was surprised to discover that while my sense of honor had matured, its defense mattered even more to me than it did when I believed that honor was such a frail thing that any empty challenge could threaten it.
The courage of the living and the dead taught me that. They taught me to dread dishonor above all other injuries.”
Remarks delivered by U.S. Senator John McCain, recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award Ceremony, May 24, 1999.
The recent unspoken policy of the MoH only being posthumous is one of my pet peeves. You can’t tell me that NOT ONE trooper performed with such gallantry, intrepidity, and valor such as to merit the award, and survived.
I remain convinced that the services, DoD and the administration are afraid of awarding the medal to someone who would possibly embarrass them in the future. And that is shameful.
Unfortunately I am afraid you may be right, XBrad, not only do dead heroes tell no tales, they don’t have second thoughts and denounce the cause later on…
In reading Beyond Glory, the one thing that comes out clearly is that these men did not “plan” to go after the MOH and many times were quite surprised to receive it. But some were indeed quite disturbed by the politics surrounding the award ceremonies, the nomination process, and the behaviour of military brass to bring MOH members as “tokens” to parties and other meet & greet type events. Any of youse guys experience that, or is this author just pulling an Oliver Stone?
It’s nice to see Arleigh Burke honored in this way. Where I live, in Boulder, CO, there is a park near my house that is named for him. He certainly had a remarkable life and was a force behind some things we take for granted now. Folks in Boulder certainly haven’t forgotten him.
Don’t be driving down to your local Post Office and order these stamps just yet. Ours in SJ won’t have them till April, even though the poster on the wall says the stamps are available.
Go to http://www.usps.com (not “.gov”), select “Buy Stamps and Shop” and go all the way out to page 5 after clicking first class stamps. Or enter “465840″ in the search window.
It’ll cost a buck for shipping costs, but that’s cheaper than driving to the post office for nothing.
I was afforded the singular and most humbling privilege at the dawn of Career 1.0 (and as an Enswine I had much to be humble about, as I still do) to serve on ADM Stockdale’s staff. It was incredibly unique for me, for being a “Coronado Kid,” his kids were my school mates and in a town as small and as service-centric as Coronado, we all knew Mrs. Stockdale. That he took even a smidgen of interest in my development as an officer and as a future NFO was enough to leave me stammering and speechless. He was, without a doubt, one of the most brilliant people I have ever had the opportunity to know. A print signed by both of my naval aviation heroes, Wynn Foster and him, graces the “man cave.” I am the better person to have had the chance to be in his command. SNO, who today takes his first PRT and heads for MEPS has read “Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot,” and has told me he now understands why I revere the man. Without the opportunity to let awardees be in our midst, we rob a generation of truly knowing an aspect of humanity that needs to be seen.
VR,
Comjam
Once long ago I had a CO who was a double Navy Cross man, Midway and the Yamato’s last action.
I was humbled and inspired to do my best to live up to his example then and thereafter.
If he had a subordinate who rated The Medal, he would have seen to it that it was awarded, promptly or if necessary, after a long and difficult process of reclama and justification.
How do I know that?
Because he did his dead level best to do his duty…always. Just the way he was.
For the longest time I thought all senior officers were like him.
The way I read the tea leaves, somebody isn’t, and is stonewalling The Medal for living nominees. This is not a good thing and needs to get corrected, mmm…about 5 years ago, or maybe 9. It is, to use a phrase of the Chairman’s, a matter of integrity. Senior officer integrity.
I trust he and his immediate subordinates will give it the same command attention given to other “matters of integrity”.
Quad Studs.
Don’t know where I heard/read it, but it became my normal prayer on releasing brakes on a “real” mission. “Lord, I don’t feel a need to win the Medal of Honor today, but if that’s what you decide, please don’t let me screw it up!”
Interesting, of the 19 double awardees, 13 were USN/USMC.
Yes, but of the seven Marine Corps double awardees, only two – Dan Daly & Smedley Butler – are legitimate. The rest were awarded both Army & Navy Medals of Honor for the same act in WWI. Daly & Butler earned theirs for separate actions: Daly for defending the American Legation during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, and again for his part in engaging a band of 400 Cacos in Haiti in 1915. Butler received his first for actions at Veracruz, Mexico in 1914 (which he tried to return) and his second barely a year later for his intrepid capture of the Caco stronghold of Fort Rivière. Butler also has the distinction of being awarded the rare Brevet Medal for service in China in 1900.
A year or two ago, I bought the sheet of stamps with Marines on it. I think it had Lejeune, Daly, Puller, and Basilone on it. I think I still half of it around here _somewhere_.
Did y’all know that there was a USS Basilone, sponsored and christened by his widow, also a Sergeant, USMC? Read the account of their courtship and marriage; the regs barely allowed them a day and a night together before he shipped out to his death.
I remember when those came out – I think it was back in 2005 or so. It is Puller, Lejeune, Basilone & Daly. I have three whole sheets that I’ve managed to save, although I did enjoy putting ‘em on envelopes at one point!
There is a surprising memorial to Basilone in Little Italy hard by Filippis. Me, Mark, Megan and the boys stopped to read it after dinner. It was not there when I lived there years ago.
We have two living VC recipients.
Now to get another USS Canberra
On an interesting note, I had the pleasure of meeting Col. Mitch Paige years ago – earned his MOH by defending “Bloody Ridge” on Guadalcanal during a night attack, then gathering the survivors and leading them on a bayonet charge to finish off the rest, with him out in front cradling a Browning .30 cal in his arms. As I recall, he had some less than pleasant things to say about Basilone – I never did get the full story, but left with the impression that he felt Basilone hadn’t really merited his honors.
‘Course, what one MOH recipient thinks “merits” the award could be different than what you and I may think. YMMV.