My copy of the Marine Corps GAZETTE arrived today and as usual had a number of very interesting article even for an old retired grunt like me. One article caught my interest right away: “The Medal of Honor, An era of overprotection,” by Capt Wes J. Deaver. Actually, a photo with an errant caption caught my eye. There was a photograph of a display case with the MOH: “Col Jefferson DeBlanc won (sic) his Medal of Honor during World war II.”
If there had been a contest I would have won one. The MOH is earned and the men who receive it are MOH recipients NOT winners.
Then in reading the full article I found the most peculiar information. It has been nine years since the first Americans assaulted Afghanistan and as of 1 Dec 2009, 5,299 American servicemen and women have died. Yet of all these honorable men and women ONLY an unbelievable six have earned the MOH. Of these six MOHs awarded since the Global War on Terrorism began, all were awarded posthumously.
During the fiasco in Mogadishu in 2001, two members of Army Special Forces posthumously were awarded the MOH.
So, doing the math we have eight who has earned the MOH and all died to earn it.
Is death a requirement today to earn the MOH? Surely out of the thousands who have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan and earned the Distinguish Service Cross or the Navy Cross, one or two must have been of the “above and beyond the call of duty” for the MOH.
Then I read the most shocking story about a Marine Sgt Rafael Peralta who on 15 Nov 2004, was shot in the head and fell to the ground and as he laid there the insurgents threw a grenade where Sgt Peralta grabbed it and pulled it under his body thus saving the lives of his fellow Marines. The entire chain of command including the Commandant of the Marine Corps and Secretary of the Navy approved the award recommendation.
In an extremely unusual event, the Secretary of Defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld, returned the recommendation requesting more information. Wait there’s more.
In June 2007, SecDef Robert M. Gates assigned five individuals to review the case. After Gate’s review he decided that Peralta would not receive the MOH but would instead receive the Navy Cross.
It is most unfortunate when all the top leaders on the goverenment have no military experience what so ever. They have no idea of the hardships and tribulations of the members of the Armed Forces.
LtCol H. T. Hayden USMC (Ret)
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Sir,
Glad you enjoyed the article. Pretty frustrating the deeper and deeper I got into the subject. I even had the chance to ask a question to Gen Conway when he spoke to us at EWS but he only made me want to ask 10 more questions. I didn’t even get a chance to bring up the really controversial parts in my paper. Sgt Peralta was reportedly an illegal immigrant. Do you think the White House wants a person of his status on the cover of USA Today and Time Magazine as a National hero?? Absolutely not. Hopefully something will be done about this issue in the military. Heroes are heroes… Period