A Medal That Honors Heroes

HEADQUARTERS MARINE CORPS, Washington

By Sgt. Leo A. Salinas

The Medal of Honor is one of the most recognized medals in the armed forces. It is the nation's highest award bestowed upon service members for valor against an enemy force.

There have been 3,460 medals given since its inception in 1861. During that year, President Lincoln signed a bill to institute a medal that honored gallant actions during the Civil War. The Navy's Medal of Honor was the first created, followed by the Army and the Air Force version of the medal.

Gunnery Sgt. Dan Daly was a double recipient of the Medal of Honor for single-handedly killing more than 200 Boxers who had attempted to breach the wall at Legation Quarter during the defense of the American legation at Peking (now Beijing), China. His second award came in the 1915 Haiti Campaign in which Daly led a counter assault on an enemy ambush.

The medal’s design has changed little since its creation. The medal is a five-pointed inverted star with laurel leaves that represent peace and oak clusters to represent strength. Thirty-four stars, representing the number of states in 1862, encircle the insignia.

The insignia is a depiction of the Roman goddess Minerva repulsing a man symbolizing discord. Minerva symbolizes wisdom and war. Her left hand holds a bundle of rods and an axe blade to symbolize authority. Her right hand holds a shield to symbolize the shield of the union of the states. A man representing discord recoils from Minerva as he holds snakes in his hands.

The design of the medal was meant to represent the disagreement soldiers and sailors had with the southern states during the Civil War and the effort to preserve the union. A red, white and blue ribbon originally held the medal. In 1904, the colors were replaced with 13 white stars to symbolize the original 13 colonies and a light blue background.

The citations that describe what the individuals did to receive the Medal of Honor read like heroic stories from action movies. There are 19 double recipients of the medal. Marine legends like Maj. Smedley Butler and Gunnery Sgt. Dan Daly are double recipients, earning their second award during the 1915 Haiti Campaign.

The Medal of Honor has been referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor because it was presented in the name of Congress. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society took this name after being chartered by Congress in 1958.

Butler led an attack as commanding officer of a Marine detachment with USS Connecticut on Fort Riviere, Haiti, which was a stronghold of the Caco bandits. Butler led a company of Marines through a small breach in a wall into hand-to-hand combat.

Daly fought with ferocity to repel an enemy assault in Haiti when bandits fired on his detachment from three elevated positions. Daly and the Marines of 15th Company repelled the enemy’s assault throughout the night and then launched a counterassault by splitting their detachment into three squads to fight off their enemies on all fronts.

Today there are 120 living Medal of Honor recipients. On July 25,1963 Congress established a set of guidelines under which the Medal of Honor could be awarded:

1. While engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States;
2. While engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or,
3. While serving with friendly forces engaged in armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.

For more information visit on this prestigious award, visit www.cmohs.org.