June 2014 - Argghhh!

Well, moments, really. Three from the Civil War battle of Fair Oaks, fought 1 June, 1862. Heh. Back in the day, the NY Times actually covered things like that, without any snarkitude . Haskell went on to gain a commission, and was enmeshed in the desperate fighting to repel Pickett's charge, 3 July 1863. Interestingly enough, Haskell was killed at Cold Harbor - where that second group of Medals was earned. Howard had a mixed career during the Civil War, his corps being roughly handled at Chancellorsville...

[NB - I wrote this one before the relative flood of Medals from the war in Afghanistan started flowing, and back when the ones that had been awarded were all posthumous. -the Armorer] While the criteria for the Medal has changed over time, I exalt no Medal holder over another as we should honor the opinion of their contemporaries, and not apply a filter informed from a remove of decades to over a century. But I understand that a lot of these Medals can seem, well, *musty* when most of the people...

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Samuel Travis, right, assigned to 5th Battalion, 14th Marines, pulls the lanyard to fire an M777 155 mm howitzer during Integrated Training Exercise (ITX) 4-14 at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif., June 10, 2014. ITX was a cornerstone of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Training Program. (DoD photo by Cpl. Lauren Whitney, U.S. Marine Corps/Released)

Three Medals were awarded for actions on the day, one during the Civil War, and two during WWII. A fight during the Siege of Petersburg, 1864, where Union General Grant tries to sever the Weldon Railroad, one of Confederate General Lee's major supply arteries for the Army holding Petersburg, and thus, Richmond. While the Army of the Potomac was able to capture a a segment of the line (after a bitter 5 day fight that started on 23 June) the rebel forces simply stopped the trains short of the the...

It's not unusual in wartime for the Medal of Honor to be presented by someone other than the President. Well, not unusual for Korea and earlier. For Vietnam-era awards and later, it's pretty much been a Presidential moment. Except for one. Navy Captain William McGonagle, who earned his Medal of Honor 8 June, 1967. Captain McGonagle received his Medal from the Secretary of the Navy in a little noted ceremony at the Washington Navy Yard. On the official US government website for the Medal of...

22 October, 2012, Organizing for America Truth Team tweets: "From al-Qaeda to Russia to Iraq, Mitt Romney has not demonstrated that he meets the threshold to be Commander in Chief." There - fixed it for ya: "From al-Qaeda to Russia to Iraq, Mitt Romney Barack Obama has not demonstrated that he meets the threshold to be Commander in Chief:"

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Mark Bush, 386th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron military working dog handler, gets affectionately licked by his dog, Xarius, June 3, 2014 at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia. Bush is deployed from the 28th Security Forces Squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Bush hails from Chicago, Illinois. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jeremy Bowcock)