June 2014 - Argghhh!

This isn't trolling for you guys to say nice things to me - it's to inspire you to do what I do - nay, just did over lunch. This is a house along the route I drive to work. It's not as obvious in the picture, but that flag is tattered, tired, and ratty. The hem is gone and the stripes are starting to separate. The home is not in great shape. I took a risk going up those stairs, if only because of the size of the shadow I cast. I can't fix that (though I have an idea on how perhaps...

Because there's more to life and blogging than just the Medal of Honor, though you might not know that from the last few days. Let's just say that job hunting is time-consuming.

There are 22 Medals awarded for actions on this date. The 22nd of June was dominated by multiple awards from the early days of the Medal - when it was the only game in town. Most of the Medals in today's list would have been Bronze or Silver Stars in this century or the last. On a plus note, there are no posthumous awards - though the tradition of the times was that dead people didn't get awards. They might get statues, but they didn't get medals. This first one would be a Navy and Marine...

Also known as the "Confederate Medal of Honor." John (NTA) opined thusly in a comment on one of my Medal of Honor posts: There were (as far as I know) no Confederate States of America awards for heroism. As we read of the heroic deeds of our northern born ancestors, we should not lose sight of the considerable heroism from the military forces from the southern part of our now re-united nation. We must remember their deeds as well, as many military members today have long family histories...

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...

[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...

There are seven Medals awarded for actoins on this day. Three from the Civil War, three from World War II, and one from Vietnam. GREGG, JOSEPH O. Rank and organization: Private, Company F, 133d Ohio Infantry. Place and date: Near the Richmond & Petersburg Ry., Va., 16 June 1864. Entered service at: ------. Born: 5 January 1841, Circleville, Ohio. Date of issue: 13 May 1899. Citation: Voluntarily returned to the breastworks which his regiment had been forced to abandon to notify 3 missing companies...