Overview

What is the Medal of Honor?

The Medal of Honor – known unofficially as the Congressional Medal of Honor – is America’s highest military award for valor in combat.

Created during the American Civil War – specifically December 21, 1861 when legislation was passed authorizing the crafting of 200 [Navy] Medals of Honor “which shall be bestowed upon such petty officers, seamen, landsmen and Marines as shall distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action and other seamanlike qualities during the present war” – the Medal of Honor quickly evolved to include private soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the Army.

Nearly 150 years later, the Medal of Honor has been (usually) awarded by the president of the United States, in the name of Congress, to 3,449 recipients (both enlisted and officer) from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

The Medal of Honor exists as the pinnacle of several levels of awards for bravery in action. And unlike many awards and decorations (military and civilian) established and presented over the decades, the Medal of Honor’s standards have stiffened – particularly since World War I – to the point that it is near-impossible to survive the action for which one might receive the award. Consequently, there have been many extraordinarily brave Americans whose deeds – though recognized with other lofty decorations and perhaps publicly perceived to be worthy of the Medal of Honor – either did not meet the Medal’s exacting criteria or there were no surviving witnesses of the specific action to recommend the Medal.

There is no equal to the Medal of Honor; nor of the 91 living recipients and their 3,352 deceased brothers and one sister. American presidents have confessed they would rather have received the Medal of Honor than won the White House. And U.S. Army Gen. George S. Patton once proclaimed he would sell his “immortal soul” for the Medal of Honor.

The recipients themselves will tell you, the Medal of Honor does not belong to them. They are holding it in trust for their fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, living and dead.