Medal of Honor Ceremony today at White House
Twenty-four folks will be awarded a Medal of Honor today, only three of the recipients are still with us. According to the White House, the ceremony will take place at 3:40 PM (1540 hours for some of you). That’s where TSO is today and he’s promised us some live photos. The Army has a nice little page with the names and biographies of each of the recipients.
I’ve embedded the live stream video below, so tune in here to watch and maybe we’ll have some pictures from TSO by then. If he can get his Irish ass out of bed before 3:40 PM.
Category: Real Soldiers
Friend Les Hayes will be on Fox with Bret Bair discussing Sgt. Falcon of the 82nd. I’ve heard the story and it is heroic.
Thanks for heads up. In my view the commission and award ceremony “is all good”.
Hand Salute.
Ready To.
I will be watching.
Glad to see these Heores being recognised for their Valor. So many go unnoticed, and we will never truly be able to honor all who sacrificed so much as they should be. Today goes a good ways towards it though.
Never Forget!
This looks to me like the “Affirmative Action” MOH Awards.
These men may deserve it but to make such a political point of it looks bad.
Unfortunately, that is indeed the appearance made by this. If these men were denied a MOH because of race or ethnicity, one is left to wonder if some weren’t named to receive the MOH for the same reason. One thing is certain, though: The accounts of their valor are not in question.
No, their valor is not in question but upgrading their awards like this and pointing specificaly towards their race does not look good. Why is no-one pushing for Chesty Puller to get one of his Navy Crosses upgraded?
Why are they still wearing the DSC? I thought once the award is upgraded the previous award is suspended. Another thing the two that are still with us, they were supposedly SF, why do they have the CIB? Retroactive awards of the CIB to Special Forces personnel are not authorized prior to 20 December 1989.
just saying!
I can assure you that Sgt. Falcon is not an affirmative action award. In fact some would argue he was denied the MOH because of he is Hispanic. Perhaps a make up call, but this dude deserves it.
Local TV did a story on this last night because one of the guys has a local connection. They pissed me off when the anchor stated denial of the MOH was due to discrimination. It can’t be denied that South Texas has discrimination. Perhaps not as bad as when Dr Hector Garcia started his organization after WWII, but it still exists. The Army ain’t South Texas, though. Roy Benavidez has the same ethnicity as Jose Rodela and fought in the same war, so it’s hard to cry discrimination. These guys had DSCs, which ain’t too shabby, so there can be any number of reasons why it wasn’t MOH, instead. I’m proud to have been a part of the same Army as these guys and happy for them and would like to point out that Santiago Erevia, in yesterday’s San Antonio paper, said he didn’t think there had been any discrimination.
I am so proud of each man receiving their Medal Of Honor today. Were that I were a tenth the man each of them is. For so many of them it is long over due. My comment below does not lessen my honor and respect for these men in any way. What they did and gave to receive this most highly, honored symbol from our nation cannot be lessened by me or anyone. So do not take my comment below the wrong way please. If it is understood differently than I intended, I offer my apologies and ask for forgiveness. It is a delicate subject to speak of. It is NOT about the men receiving their Medal today at all. In the end I give each one a sharp stance of Attention and Hand Salute and my lifelong promise to “Never Forget” them and all who have sacrificed to receive this or any other award of valor.
This is my only other thought about it though. If I were receiving the Medal of Honor today, it would somehow, just to me, just this one man, in my one humble opinion here, feel a bit diminished in my mind, having it hung around my neck by the likes of Barack Obama. Knowing what he truly believes about me, our military and how his administration has treated the military and veterans from day one. In fact I think if I were allowed on such an occasion, I would ask if George Bush were available to decorate me instead. I didn’t agree with everything Bush did. But I do believe without doubt he loved and honored our military.
Again this is just one man’s opinion here and I hope my words do not take any honor away from today recipients.
So, I’m sitting here at home watching this and it takes every bit of my control to refrain from jumping out of my chair and applauding.
I know. Humbling to say the least.
A very moving ceremony. It is truly humbling to watch these men and hear their citations.
Moving indeed. Inspiring is another word that comes to mind.
This should have been satalite linked to every classroom in the nation.
While I salute and thank God men such as these lived…
I’ve grown much too cynical of this administration. I see this ceremony, while long past due, is nothing more than pretty fireworks to hide the fatal slashes in the Pentagon budget (which will get more people killed), Benghazi (which really did kill), NSA, IRS (both are now authorized to kill), immigration (who are killing us), Moose-shells latest vacation (which just kills me), and the evil little shit 0bama wants as surgeon general (who thinks we are going to kill everyone else).
The Golden Brigade Chapter (i.e., 3/82nd in RVN) of the 82nd Airborne Div Assoc organized a contingent to be there for Sgt Falcon. Hat’s off to them for doing that…I should have helped. My bad.
This is no Affrmative Action, just one sheedog doing his thing….
Sergeant Eduardo C. Gomez distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Company I, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division during combat operations against an armed enemy in Tabu-dong, Korea on September 3, 1950. That afternoon, while conducting combat patrol, Sergeant Gomez’ company was ruthlessly attacked by a hostile force which moved within seventy-five yards of the command post before it was immobilized by rocket fire. However, an enemy tank and multiple enemy machineguns continued to rake the company perimeter with devastating fire. Realizing the tank posed a serious threat to the entire perimeter, Sergeant Gomez voluntarily crawled thirty yards across an open rice field vulnerable to enemy observation and fire, boarded the tank, pried open one of the hatches on the turret and dropped an activated grenade into the hull, killing the crew. Wounded in the left side while returning to his position, Sergeant Gomez refused evacuation. Observing that the tripod of a .30 caliber machinegun was rendered inoperable by enemy fire, he cradled the weapon in his arms, returned to the forward defensive positions, and swept the assaulting force with withering fire. Although his weapon overheated and burned his hands and his painful wound still bled, Sergeant Gomez maintained his stand and, upon orders to withdraw in the face of overwhelming enemy superiority, remained to provide protective fire. Sergeant Gomez continued to pour accurate fire into the enemy ranks, exacting a heavy toll in casualties and retarding their advance. Sergeant Gomez would not consent to leave his post for medical attention until the company established new defensive positions.
According to a segment I happened to hear on NPR this afternoon, the honors bestowed today were the result of one man Michel Libman and his wife who spent the past 50 years researching (and I suppose lobbying). The couple began their research in regards to the heroic actions of Mr. Libman’s friend PFC. Leonard Kravitz who was awarded the DSC posthumously. PFC. Kravitz is the uncle of Lenny Kravitz the pop singer apparently.
http://www.npr.org/2014/03/18/291172148/quest-for-a-friend-helps-undo-decades-of-medal-of-honor-bias
Much as I honor and revere the men who earned these MOHs, this awards ceremony is this administration’s affirmative action BS.
If it were me being awarded, I’d do a “Ferris Beuller”, and ask them to mail it to me, rather then let that sacred medal be sullyed by Obaomao’s filthy hands.
I can refrain no longer…
All you fuckers making this into something that somehow was only for Affirmative action or because it is Obama who is the President who had the Honor of making the Award presentation can go fuck yourselves.
Honest to God! The review was begun under President Bush in light of hard evidence that… and I know this will be a shocker to some… that racism was alive and well in this country in such force during those time periods that many men were denied awards, promotions, etc…
So how about instead of looking at it through the lense of today, look at it through the lense of attitudes and reality back in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.
If you think that it was not only possible, but that it did not happen that Soldiers were discriminated against by even their own chain of command you have not a clue about our History!
God Bless each and everyone of those Heroes. To you who have diminished their valor and the awarding of our Nations highest honor…
Airborne!
Charles Ballou of Lakewood, Ohio claims that military veterans are liars, especially those who earned the Medal of Honor. Please see this link for his Facebook comments on someone else’s page: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203141364004210&l=76ff321fa4
Also, this is his own Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/charles.ballou.9
He needs to learn the meanings of respect and humility.