5 August - We make up for the 8 Medals in the past four days as we open with the Civil War with a Medal for Baton Rouge in 1862 and then a huge number of Medals for the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864. I would note that Yeoman Atkinson had an interesting career. The Battle of Mobile Bay is the most be-Medalled battle in the history of the Medal - with 97 awards.
4 August has one award. This day in history has thus far generated 101 total awards. Almost 3 percent of the total awards of the Medal stem from this one day of the year - and the bulk of that from one battle in1864. This didn't occur often, and after the Spanish-American War didn't happen at all.
Today, these actions would be covered by Navy Commendation Medals, Bronze Stars, Silver Stars, and Navy Crosses, in addition to the Medal. But only the Medal existed in this era. By contrast,
Operation Tidal Wave, the air attack on the refineries at Ploesti, Romania in August of 1943 was every bit as desperate as Mobile Bay, but only (if "only" is an apt word) resulted in 5 awards of the Medal - which is a singular event in what could be termed the modern era for the Medal of Honor. This first week in August, is a fascinating week, including as it does the greatest single day for the Medal
and a day for which, as yet, no Medals have been awarded.
Read the complete post at http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2014/08/todays_medal_of_411.html
Posted
Aug 05 2014, 08:07 AM
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Argghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah's Military Guys..