Posted on 08/27/2014 7:10:27 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
1st Lieutenant Alonzo Hersford Cushing to be awarded Medal of Honor Lt Cushing was killed in the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 He stood his ground and fought on despite a bullet wound to the head Congress grant special exemption to give Lt Cushing the medal 151 years on Relatives and admirers had campaigned since 1980s for proper recognition Two Vietnam War veterans will also receive medal in ceremony next month
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
New York and Wisconsin, could help turn out!
Seems like a brave kid. I have no problem with recognizing his efforts.
But it also indicates a problem with today’s government: we spend a lot of time looking back for heroes, instead of inspiring our youths of the future.
The PC examination of our past, trying to correct “errors” seems a stupid use of our resources.
Obama does nothing simply because its the right thing to do.
Sadly everything 0bama touches becomes tainted.
You’re probably right. A bone to dampen the outrage about the VA.
Did LT Pelham get a medal of Honor too? Civil War Buffs would remember him. What no MOH for members of the CSA?
Oh, dear. This is the number of casualties, total of dead, wounded and missing on both sides.
Total deaths in battle <8,000 on both sides, though of course some later died of wounds.
That word you keep using, I don't think it means what you think it means.
Given the usual proportions of total casualties to deaths in battle, 51,000 deaths would mean nobody was still on his feet at the end of the battle.
Most awards of the Medal of Honor for the Civil War were made long after the war ended. Veterans and veterans groups lobbied for recognition. At the head of the line were politicians and those who had stayed in the Army. Posthumous awards were quite rare, in line with the customs of the day.
After events of the Spanish American War, the Boxer Rebellion, and other turn of the century conflicts, standards were tightened and the Medal of Honor became the prestigious award that we know today. That is, until the White House started using it as yet another tool in their political correctness partisan behavior.
I believe there were ONE HUNDRED and SEVENTY FIVE THOUSAND very brave men at Gettysburg.
FIFTY ONE THOUSAND,ONE HUNDRED and TWELVE deaths.
After all this time; why this man, why now?
Total deaths
http://www.army.mil/gettysburg/statistics/statistics.html
Upon further review that must in fact be approximate total casualties.
The number for total deaths seems to converge around SEVEN THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED.
I stand corrected.
Skipped the usual Wiki source; my son the history teacher says ‘a Wiki source is an automatic F’.
“...This board rescinded the awards of 911 Medals of Honor. Stricken were the 27th Maine, the 29 officers and men who had accompanied the remains of President Lincoln from Washington to Springfield, Illinois in April, 1865, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, and another very colorful hero of the Indian Wars, William F. “Wild Bill” Cody. Cody, like James J. Andrews, had been a civilian guide or scout and thus was not eligible for the award. The most ridiculous award that was rescinded was one that had been issued to a Lieutenant Colonel Gardiner in 1872 by Secretary of War Belknap upon Gardiner’s application. Gardiner wrote, “I understand there are a number of bronze medals for distribution to soldiers of the late War, and request I be allowed one as a souvenir of memorable times past.”
With this action in 1916, the total awarded for the Civil War came to 1,520 of which 1,196 were Army, 307 Navy, and 17 Marines...”
http://www.andrewsraid.com/m_review.html
I dont know if this case applies, but I do know it applies to recent MOHs presented for WWII and Vietnam.
The Pentagon started a review of the practices of how the MOH is awarded. They knew that actions worthy of praise, but generally withheld because of race, religion, etc. should be recognized.
If you do a quick search you will see numerous “retro active” awards.
I am not against that per se. Black, Hispanic, or Jewish soldiers have been as brave as any white soldiers going back to the first battles of the revolution.
I simply shake my head and wonder if it is really worth the time and effort going back 150 years for the purpose of political correctness. I guess this seems like the current version of ear-marking where a Congressman and/or a “family” can make a case.
My comments are meant in no way to dishonor these heroes. But I think its time we started looking forward a little bit more.
Methinks, we should start pressing more purple hearts and MOHs. The Fifth crusade is going to require a lot of them.
I appreciate that the CSA was made up of “Americans.” But since they were in rebellion against the United States of America it would seem that awarding them medals from the Congress would be a little, awkward.
Is there any other war where the Congress of the United States awarded medals to “enemy soldiers?”
Is there any other war where the Congress of the United States awarded medals to “enemy soldiers?”............................. I was thinking more in line with the CSA giving out a MOH. Did one exist? Since Google is my friend I found this. So my question has been answered. http://scscv.com/confederate-past-and-present/confederate-medal-of-honor-recipients/
Alonzo was a member of the Union army, an artillery officer, and was the primary focal point of the artillery fire aimed against Pickett’s Charge. His bravery kept the other artillery men firing on until Pickett’s charge reached them, and then broke.
http://1-22infantry.org/history4/lengfeld.htm
The plaque on the monument erected for
LT Friedrich Lengfeld.
The inscription (in both English and German) reads:
No man hath greater love than he who
layeth down his life for his enemy.
IN MEMORY
OF
LIEUTENANT FRIEDRICH LENGFELD
Here in Huertgen Forest on November 12, 1944,
Lt. Lengfeld, a German officer, gave his life
while trying to save the life of an American
soldier lying severly wounded in the “Wilde
Sau” minefield and appealing for medical aid.
PLACED AT THIS SITE ON OCTOBER 7, 1994
THE
TWENTY SECOND UNITED STATES
INFANTRY
SOCIETY - WORLD WAR II
“Deeds Not Words”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_H%C3%BCrtgen_Forest
Erstwhile enemy remembered
There is a stone monument with a bronze plaque at the Hürtgen military cemetery dedicated by veterans of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division to the memory of Friedrich Lengfeld (29 September 1921–12 November 1944), a German lieutenant. Lengfeld died on 12 November 1944, of severe wounds sustained while helping a wounded American soldier out of the “Wild Sow” (”Wilde Sau”) minefield. It is the only such memorial for a German soldier placed by his erstwhile opponents in a German military cemetery.[14]
He certainly died bravely. Too bad it was for Lincoln, who pretty much single-handedly created our behemoth federal government and quashed states’ rights, in violation of the Constitution he swore to uphold and defend. Reasonably, if a state votes to join the union, it can also vote to secede from it. Otherwise, they’re enslaved.
No MoH for Confederate soldiers. Their government went out of existence in April 1865.
A number that were not rescinded included citations that said, “led his regiment in action at _______.” “Captured 2 officers and 20 men of Hagood’s brigade while they were endeavoring to make their way back through the woods” (actual citation).
When did Chamberlain receive his for Little Round Top? It was years and years later, iirc.
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