Today is a rare one for the Medal. There are no posthumous awards. There was a time, during the Vietnam War and earlier, when we actually awarded the Medal to living people.
Starting with Somalia and moving forward, however, it seems the unwritten policy is that it's the Medal of Posthumous Honor, as yesterday's announcement of the awarding of the Medal to SFC Jared Monti simply reinforces
I simply do not believe that there have been no deserving men or women who managed to survive a Medal-quality action. Since the timeline seems to be 18 months to two years, perhaps we'll see something percolate up. One can only hope. Of course, we've been making awards 40 years after the fact, so there may be some catch-ups later.
[NB: I am pleased to see that with the departure of Secretary of Defense Gates, the "Rumsfeld Rule" of "No one who lives is worthy" has fallen by the wayside. To Secretary Gate's everlasting shame, in his book, he even acknowledges he thought the approach was wrong, yet he did nothing to change it. Asshat.]
Today's Medals bracket the history of the Medal - two for an action at Newby's Crossroads in Virginia in 1863 and one from the war in Vietnam.
Read the complete post at http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2014/07/todays_medal_of_399.html
Posted
Jul 24 2014, 08:40 AM
by
Argghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah's Military Guys..