World War Ii Medal Of Honor Recipients 1

The Medal of Honor is the highest military award that can be bestowed on personnel in the United States' Armed Forces. This book is the first of two titles looking at the recipients of the Medal of Honor during World War II. It covers Navy and Marine Corps awardees in all theaters of war, from the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 to the brutal fighting on Iwo Jima in 1945. Among the inspiring stories told are those of Signalman 1st Class Douglas Munro, the only Coast Guardsman to ever receive the Medal of Honor, and Commander Antrim, who faced almost certain death to save fellow prisoners in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.

The remarkable story of the seven African American soldiers ultimately awarded the World War II Medal of Honor, and the 50-year campaign to deny them their recognition. In 1945, when Congress began reviewing the record of the most conspicuous acts of courage by American soldiers during World War II, they recommended awarding the Medal of Honor to 432 recipients. Despite the fact that more than one million African-Americans served, not a single black soldier received the Medal of Honor. The omission remained on the record for over four decades. But recent historical investigations have brought to light some of the extraordinary acts of valor performed by black soldiers during the war. Men like Vernon Baker, who single-handedly eliminated three enemy machineguns, an observation post, and a German dugout. Or Sergeant Reuben Rivers, who spearhead his tank unit's advance against fierce German resistance for three days despite being grievously wounded. Meanwhile Lieutenant Charles Thomas led his platoon to capture a strategically vital village on the Siegfried Line in 1944 despite losing half his men and suffering a number of wounds himself. Ultimately, in 1993 a US Army commission determined that seven men, including Baker, Rivers and Thomas, had been denied the Army's highest award simply due to racial discrimination. In 1997, more than 50 years after the war, President Clinton finally awarded the Medal of Honor to these seven heroes, sadly all but one of them posthumously. These are their stories.

This 736-page book has the inspirational stories of courage under fire for all 464 World War II Medal of Honor Recipients, including Van Barfoot, John Basilone, Richard Bong, Pappy Boyington, Footsie Britt, John Bulkeley, Jimmy Doolittle, Desmond Doss, “Red Mike†Edson, John Finn, Joe Foss, John Hawk, James Howard, Daniel Inouye, Leon Johnson, Isaac Kidd, Jose Lopez, Jack Lummux, George Mabry, Douglas MacArthur, Thomas McGuire Jr., Gino Merli, Audie Murphy, Joseph O’Callahan, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Edward Silk, Matt Urban, Alexander Vandegrift, George Wahlen, Jonathan Wainwright, Kenneth Walsh, and Hershel Williams. Since the decoration's creation in 1861, the Medal has become a historic symbol of the bravest of the brave. The stories of the recipients are impressive and moving.

A privileged, hell-raising youth who had greatly embarrassed his family—and especially his war-hero father—by being dismissed from West Point, Michael J. Daly would go on to display selfless courage and heroic leadership on the battlefields of Europe during World War II. Starting as an enlisted man and rising through the ranks to become a captain and company commander, Daly’s devotion to his men and his determination to live up to the ideals taught to him by his father led him to extraordinary acts of bravery on behalf of others, resulting in three Silver Stars, a Bronze Star with “V” attachment for valor, two Purple Hearts, and finally, the Medal of Honor. Historian Stephen J. Ochs mined archives and special collections and conducted numerous personal interviews with Daly, his family and friends, and the men whom he commanded and with whom he served. The result is a carefully constructed, in-depth portrait of a warrior-hero who found his life’s deepest purpose, both during and after the war, in selfless service to others. After a period of post-war drift, Daly finally escaped the “hero’s cage” and found renewed purpose through family and service. He became a board member at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he again assumed the role of defender and guardian by championing the cause of the indigent poor and the terminally ill, earning the sobriquet, “conscience of the hospital.” A Cause Greater than Self: The Journey of Captain Michael J. Daly, World War II Medal of Honor Recipient is at once a unique, father-son wartime saga, a coming-of-age narrative, and the tale of a heroic man’s struggle to forge a new and meaningful postwar life. Daly’s story also highlights the crucial role played by platoon and company infantry officers in winning both major battles like those on D-Day and in lesser-known campaigns such as those of the Colmar Pocket and in south-central Germany, further reinforcing the debt that Americans owe to them—especially those whose selfless courage merited the Medal of Honor.

The epic Battle of Iwo Jima is recounted through the stories of twenty-eight American soldiers who showed uncommon valor during one of WWII’s most bitter conflicts. When the smoke cleared on Iwo Jima in March of 1945, nineteen-thousand American Marines had been wounded and seven-thousand were dead, a casualty rate of nearly thirty-nine percent. Lasting over a month, Iwo was the Marines’ bloodiest battle of the Second World War and the only Pacific battle in which a U.S. landing force suffered more casualties than it inflicted. It was also the most highly decorated single engagement in Marine Corps history. This volume captures the bravery of those who fought in that epic battle through the stories of twenty-two Marines and five Navy personnel who received the Medal of Honor in recognition of their gallantry under fire.

The Medal of Honor is the highest military award that can be bestowed on personnel in the United States' Armed Forces. This book is the first of two titles looking at the recipients of the Medal of Honor during World War II. It covers Navy and Marine Corps awardees in all theaters of war, from the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 to the brutal fighting on Iwo Jima in 1945. Among the inspiring stories told are those of Signalman 1st Class Douglas Munro, the only Coast Guardsman to ever receive the Medal of Honor, and Commander Antrim, who faced almost certain death to save fellow prisoners in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.

A comprehensive history of America's highest award for military valor. The Medal of Honor chronicles the creation, evolution, and awarding of the Medal, from the battlefields of the Civil War to the jungles of Vietnam, through a wealth of illustrations and hundreds of authoritative, action-filled accounts of heroism in America's conflicts. This wonderfully detailed and beautifully designed history book puts the Medal and its recipients into the context of their times, with brief and accessible introductions explaining each war and conflict for which the Medal was awarded. It also includes photo essays, intriguing stories of the Medal's sometimes quirky personalities, effects on surviving recipients, and the Medal's preeminent place in the American story. Whether you're an avid reader on the history of the Medal of Honor or simply intrigued by its place in our history, you're certain to want to flip through the pages of The Medal of Honor again and again.

The remarkable story of the seven African American soldiers ultimately awarded the World War II Medal of Honor, and the 50-year campaign to deny them their recognition. In 1945, when Congress began reviewing the record of the most conspicuous acts of courage by American soldiers during World War II, they recommended awarding the Medal of Honor to 432 recipients. Despite the fact that more than one million African-Americans served, not a single black soldier received the Medal of Honor. The omission remained on the record for over four decades. But recent historical investigations have brought to light some of the extraordinary acts of valor performed by black soldiers during the war. Men like Vernon Baker, who single-handedly eliminated three enemy machineguns, an observation post, and a German dugout. Or Sergeant Reuben Rivers, who spearhead his tank unit's advance against fierce German resistance for three days despite being grievously wounded. Meanwhile Lieutenant Charles Thomas led his platoon to capture a strategically vital village on the Siegfried Line in 1944 despite losing half his men and suffering a number of wounds himself. Ultimately, in 1993 a US Army commission determined that seven men, including Baker, Rivers and Thomas, had been denied the Army's highest award simply due to racial discrimination. In 1997, more than 50 years after the war, President Clinton finally awarded the Medal of Honor to these seven heroes, sadly all but one of them posthumously. These are their stories.