Medal of Honor

"A senior Marine official told McClatchy that after that decision, the Marines were determined that one of their own would earn a Medal of Honor by the time Commandant James T. Conway retired in 2010. The official described Peralta’s case as a learning experience that the Marines didn’t want repeated.

The frustration may have prompted Conway’s successor, Gen. James F. Amos, to breach Pentagon guidelines against “premature disclosure” of information about Medal of Honor nominations. During a visit to Camp Pendleton, Calif., on Nov. 6, 2010, Amos announced that Conway had approved a living Marine for the decoration. While he withheld the name, the Marine Corps Times identified the Marine as Meyer two days later."  Landay

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A sad thing but not unprecedented in any of the armed services.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/marines-promoted-inflated-story-for-medal-of-honor-winner/2011/12/14/gIQAlhYwuO_story.html?hpid=z2

 

Comments

[tequila]

Still unclear to me what GEN Douglas MacArthur did to win his MoH.

[turcopolier]

tequila

National hero after the 1942 PI campaign. If I remember correctly Wainright got one also. pl

[Jake]

The real Heroes of the PI Campaign that should have gotten the MOH were the men held at Cabanatuan.... Lets not forget their rescuers as well...

[turcopolier]

Jake

Let us not forget the men held at Camp O'Donnell. The Catholic chaplain who baptised me was held there and executed by the IJA with the sword for refusal to stop ministering to the men. pl

[JoeC]

In a rational world it would seem that MacArthur should have been relieved based on his performance on December 8th and bad decisions about how to wage the PI campaign - as opposed to being promoted and awarded the Medal of Honor. But for political reasons we needed some one to blame for Pearl Harbor (Kimmel and Short) and a "hero" (MacArthur) to boost domestic morale. So I guess we are never free of politics in these matters. And then there is the question about the huge payment made to MacArthur by the Phillipine government...

[Jake]

Colonel.. That Chaplain now sits with the Mightiest of the Mightiest! That is one reward many of us only hope and pray to obtain one day.

But Ditto to Father...

[JoeC]

PL

Marshall had planned to award Wainwright the MoH - as well as MacArthur, but MacArthur's animosity to Wainwright was so great that Marshall backed off, not wanting to air this matter in public.

Wainwright was eventually awarded the MoH by President Truman after the Japanese surrender.

[J]

Medal of Honor recipient, defense contractor resolve lawsuit
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/15/us/medal-winner-lawsuit/index.html?eref=igoogledmn_topstories

[Jake]

Well we have lost the Bill of Rights this evening... NDAA 2012 is on its way to becoming law...

[Green Zone Cafe]

I am just paranoid enough about our oligarchical surveillance state to wonder about the timing of this latest story, after Mr. Meyer sued he had to be brought down.

[Adam L. Silverman]

Sir,

Here's the USMC response:
http://www.marines.mil/unit/hqmc/Pages/MARINECORPSSTATEMENTONCPLMEYERSMEDALOFHONOR.aspx
"12/15/2011
Headquarters Marine Corps Lt. Col. Stewart T. Upton

The Pentagon

(703)614-4309
[email protected]

WASHINGTON —
We are personally very disappointed in the McClatchy Newspaper’s decision to publish the article, "Marines Promoted Inflated Story for Medal of Honor Winner" alleging that the Marine Corps embellished Corporal Dakota Meyer’s story. We firmly stand behind the Medal of Honor (MOH) process and the conclusion that this Marine rightly deserved the nation’s highest military honor.

The rigorous award investigation process focuses on source information from direct eye-witnesses and other contemporaneously or near-contemporaneously recorded information. Investigators refer to these reliable sources and not to secondary sources such as newspapers, magazine articles, or books. Because of the nature of the events supporting awards for valor, it is normal for minor discrepancies to appear when reviewing the source information and collecting eyewitness statements. The integrity of the military awards system, however, is paramount in the minds of all Marine commanders; accordingly, awards for valor are not endorsed or approved without solid justification in the form of supporting documents and eyewitness statements.

This investigation process was applied to the award recommendation for then Cpl. Meyer’s MOH and its rigor resulted in an entirely appropriate and well-deserved award. The supporting documents for this award included numerous eyewitness statements, graphics, and a command inquiry by the Commander of Marine Corps Central Command and two Army AR-15-6 investigations, which contained many of the eyewitness statements as well as other official documents and radio logs.

Due to the distance and length of time the battle lasted and the fact that the majority of the participants were in a deadly fight for their lives and the lives of their comrades, the eyewitness accounts may vary in certain detail – variations that are expected. These Marines, Sailors, and Soldiers were engaged in a six-hour battle from the time the Coalition forces entered the Ganjgal Valley and were ambushed, until the time when the last of the Coalition forces left the valley. Many of the participants moved back and forth along the three kilometers of terraced valley floor on multiple occasions during the engagement. While a number of the witnesses were in close proximity to Cpl. Meyer and SSgt. Rodriguez-Chavez at various points in the battle, many other witnesses were farther away. The geography of this battle and the location of the participants meant that not every witness had equal and accurate visibility or situational clarity on every activity.

The narrative of Cpl. Meyer’s Heroic Actions was posted on the Headquarters Marine Corps webpage to allow the American public to read Cpl. Meyer’s personal account of the sequence of events and actions on this day. We supported this communication method in large part because of Sgt. Meyer’s personal desire to not retell with each interview, and thereby re-live, what he calls the "worst day of his life."

The accomplishments described in the MOH citation are valid, supported by two eyewitnesses as required, and confirm the merits of the MOH properly awarded to Cpl. Meyer."

[Fred]

At the risk of opening the flood gates of criticism,

From page 4: "Presure for medals"

"A March 2009 study by the Army Times found that from World War I through Vietnam, the medal was awarded at a rate of 2.3 to 2.9 per 100,000 service members. But only five Medals of Honor were awarded between the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the publishing of the study, a rate of 1 in 1 million." …. and… "A senior Marine official told McClatchy that after that decision, the Marines were determined that one of their own would earn a Medal of Honor by the time Commandant James T. Conway retired in 2010."

Yes, the math says 1 in 1 million, it doesn’t imply or prove that the Taliban/Iraq Insurgency/Iraqi Army were equal to the armies of Imperial Germany, National Socialist Germany, Imperial Japan, North Korea, China (Korea) the NVA or VC.

Why is mathamatics the determination for the award of a medal for valor ? Doesn't the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps have more important leadership to provide? Why is our political leadership more concerned with the number of medals awarded than with the results achived by the combat arms of the republic? Surely they don't think awarding 1, 2, or 2,000 more MOH's is going to change the outcome of this or any other war?

As was asked a couple of weeks ago, why do we have two armies?