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Medal's history: valor, honor - and injustice

The 144-year history of the Medal of Honor describes extreme heroism - and other conduct far less admirable.

On March 23, 1945, Army Sgt. Edward A. Carter Jr. was riding atop a tank near Speyer, Germany. The tank was hit by enemy fire. Carter volunteered to lead three other men across an open field to attack the Germans. In moments, two of his men were killed and a third wounded.

Carter pressed on alone.

Hit five times, he could not take the German position. The Germans then tried to take him. Eight enemy riflemen approached. Carter killed six and captured the other two.

Carter was one of 1-million black Americans who served in the military during World War II. None was deemed worthy of the Medal of Honor.

The injustice lasted until 1997, when President Clinton awarded the medal to seven African-Americans, including Carter. All but one of the awards was posthumous. Carter died in 1963.

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Created at the outset of the Civil War, the Medal of Honor was then the military' s only medal. It could be granted for extreme bravery - or for standing guard duty. On the eve of the battle of Gettysburg, about 300 members of the 27th Maine whose enlistments had expired agreed to remain on duty to guard Washington in return for the Medal of Honor.

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The next month, former slave William Harvey Carney became the first black American to earn the medal, during action at Fort Wagner, S.C., with the 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry.

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In 1865, Union Army contract surgeon Mary Walker became the only woman awarded the medal. Walker attended the wounded at several battles and was briefly held prisoner by the Confederates. President Andrew Johnson wanted to give her some sort of recognition for her services, and apparently couldn't think of anything else to give her.

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During World War I, a military board reviewed every Medal of Honor recipient from the Civil War on. It struck the names of 911 medal recipients from the honor roll, including the medals awarded to the 27th Maine, 29 members of President Lincoln's funeral guard and Dr. Walker. Her medal was restored in 1977.

* * *

Japanese-Americans were treated shamefully in World War II. Eager to prove their loyalty, thousands of them joined the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. In terms of its size and length of service, it became the most decorated unit in the history of the U.S. military. In total, about 14,000 men served. They were awarded 9,486 Purple Hearts, eight Presidential Unit Citations - and 21 Medals of Honor.

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At least 18 Medals of Honor are credited to Floridians. The first was a 4th Cavalry scout, Adam Paine, a "Seminole Negro" who served with courage during an 1874 Indian attack in Texas.

--Information from the Sacramento Bee and the following Web sites was used in this report:

www.cmohs.org medalofhonor.com, www.army.mil/cmh www.goforbroke.org/history/history_historical_veterans_442nd.asp

[Last modified April 5, 2005, 01:32:04]