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The attack came before dawn on September 4, 1967, while most of the 1st Battalion 5th Marines’ Delta Company still slept. The evening before, the Americans had set up a nighttime defensive perimeter, but with 2,500 North Vietnamese soldiers aligned against them, it didn’t help. D Company was outnumbered and outgunned. The battle raged for hours. The gunfire was relentless. So too, however, was the D Company’s chaplain, Father Vincent Capodanno. Under heavy artillery fire, the Staten Island native administered Last Rites to the dying and pulled the wounded to safety. The injured men were heavy, but Father Capodanno had...

Former President Donald Trump said Thursday that the top civilian honor was better than the top military honor because those recipients are in 'very bad shape' or deceased. He made the comments at an antisemitism event at his Bedminster, New Jersey resort, where he lauded Miriam Adelson, the widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who long bankrolled Republican political campaigns. Trump reminded the audience how he had presented Miriam Adelson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018, mispeaking and saying it's equivalent to the 'Congressional Medal of Honor.' The highest military decoration is simply referred to as the Medal...

"When we gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom… It’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor— it’s actually much better because everyone who gets the Congressional Medal, they’re soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead. She gets it and she’s a healthy beautiful woman."

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III has directed the Defense Department to review the Medals of Honor awarded to approximately 20 soldiers for their actions during the December 1890 engagement at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, to ensure no awardees were recognized for conduct inconsistent with the nation's highest military honor. DOD's Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness will convene a special review panel to conduct an individualized assessment based on standards in effect during that period. The scope of the panel's review is limited to examining each Medal of Honor awardee' s individual actions...

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has ordered the Department of Defense to review the Medal of Honor awarded to 20 soldiers for their actions in the Wounded Knee Massacre that took place in 1890.Austin wrote in a memo, “The [special review panel] may consider the context of the overall engagement as appropriate, including as necessary to understand each [Wounded Knee Creek Medal of Honor] recipient’s individual actions.”In a separate statement, a senior defense official shared, “It’s never too late to do what’s right.”The official added, “And that’s what is intended by the review that the secretary directed, which is...

Two Union soldiers from the American Civil War were posthumously awarded with the Medal of Honor by President Joe Biden on Wednesday, more than 160 years after being executed for their part in a daring mission against the Confederacy. “Private Philip G. Shadrach and Private George D. Wilson will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for their gallantry and intrepidity while participating in a covert military operation 200 miles behind Confederate lines on April 12, 1862,” a White House official said Wednesday morning. “In one of the earliest special operations in US Army history, Union Soldiers dressed as civilians infiltrated...

Joe Biden on Wednesday emerged from hiding to attend his first public event for the day at 4:45 pm ET. .... Snip.... Biden robotically shuffled into the East Room. His son Hunter was also in attendance. WATCH: Hunter (with General Milley) was spotted at the White House event: Joe Biden delivered brief remarks (he read from a teleprompter) and then literally ran out of the room without answering any questions. This is the fastest you’ll ever see Biden move! Reporters were shouting questions as Biden speedily shuffled away.

The remains of Col. Ralph Puckett, Jr., the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from the Korean War, lay in honor Monday in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. Puckett Jr., born Dec. 8, 1926, died at his home on Monday, April 8. He was 97. Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on Tuesday, April 16, that Congress would honor the fallen Medal of Honor with the prestigious reception. "The extraordinary valor of Colonel Ralph Puckett, Jr. represents the best of the 1.7 million Americans who left home to fight for freedom in the Korean War,"...

During the Battle of Iwo Jima, in the face of powerful enemy resistance, Marine Cpl. Hershel "Woody" Williams succeeded in destroying several heavily-defended machine-gun pillboxes, and was awarded the Medal of Honor. But his service to his country, and his gallantry, did not end there. In this "Sunday Morning" profile that originally aired on May 30, 2021, Williams (who died on June 29 at the age of 98) talked with CBS News national security correspondent David Martin about his efforts for uring the Battle of Iwo Jima, in the face of powerful enemy resistance, Marine Cpl. Hershel "Woody" Williams succeeded...

Marines, Not Soldiers Published: Jan 28, 2002 I have a complaint about some of the news readers for the local television stations, and I am sure there are countless other Marines with the same one. It is galling to hear the news readers referring to Marines as ``soldiers.'' Marines are not soldiers; they are Marines and always will be. There is no such thing as an ex-Marine or a former Marine. We are all ``Marines,'' period. Soldiers are members of the Army and sailors are members of the Navy. You wouldn't call a soldier a sailor, so why would you...

"throwing human flesh against reinforced concrete." Sixty years ago today, U.S. Navy landing craft loaded with thousands of U.S. Marines began churning toward a tiny, eight-square-mile chunk of volcanic rock jutting out the Pacific Ocean. The island, Iwo Jima, was about to become the scene of a month long battle between U.S. forces and Iwo's Japanese defenders. It was a battle that some historians have since described as “throwing human flesh against reinforced concrete.” It would define the modern Marine Corps. President Franklin D. Roosevelt would gasp in horror upon learning of the American casualties (7,000 Americans were killed, another...

President Joe Biden leaves a White House Medal of Honor ceremony before the closing prayer.

Perhaps it was the way he carried himself in an unassuming and humble manner, but day after day hundreds of Air Force Academy cadets would pass this janitor in the hall oblivious to the greatness that was among them. In the mid-1970s, William Crawford might spend one day sweeping the halls and another cleaning the bathrooms, but it was a day approximately 30 years prior that would create for him a special place in the history of war. In 1943 in Italy, the only thing Private William Crawford was cleaning out was German machine gun nest and bunkers.

A young Army Corporal waited nervously for the guards to arrive. He looked around the prison where he had been held for over two years and was relieved about the prospect of finally returning home to his family. Corporal Hiroshi “Hershey” Miyamura welcomed the sight of his Communist captors for the first time since he was put there. Now, he would be turned over to American officials. Still, the young Japanese-American soldier was restless, as he believed he would be court-martialed for his failure at Taejon-ni in Seoul. While there, the Chinese Communists had flooded his unit’s defensive positions and...

He was astronaut Ken Mattingly in Apollo 13, detective Mac Taylor in CSI: NY and Vietnam War veteran Lt. Dan Taylor in Forrest Gump. But the role he's most proud of is that of a real-life philanthropist. Sinise has been helping wounded veterans and first responders for decades and created the Gary Sinise Foundation in 2011. "I've met some inspirational people that have motivated me," Sinise said. "And if I can give back to them by helping them with their efforts, then that's a way that I can continue to serve."

One of only four remaining Medal of Honor winners from WW2. The last remaining Marine MOH winner from WW2. The last remaining MOH winner from the Pacific theater of WW2.

Hershel W. "Woody" Williams, the last remaining Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, whose heroics under fire over several crucial hours at the Battle of Iwo Jima made him a legend in his native West Virginia, died Wednesday. He was 98. Williams' foundation announced on Twitter and Facebook that he died at the Veterans Affairs medical center bearing his name in Huntington. "Today, America lost not just a valiant Marine and a Medal of Honor recipient, but an important link to our Nation's fight against tyranny in the Second World War," U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in...

Hershel "Woody" Williams, America's last surviving World War II veteran to have received a Medal of Honor, passed away surrounded by family on Wednesday morning. Williams, 98, was the last of the 473 American service members who received a Medal of Honor in WWII. Williams spent his final days with family at a hospital in his home state of West Virginia. Family members called on Americans to pray for him on Tuesday."As he lives out his last days, we welcome and appreciate any additional prayers lifted up on behalf of Woody and his family," his family said in a statement...

Medal of Honor Recipient and World War II Veteran Hershel “Woody” Williams, passed away this morning at the age of 98.

First, to take care of some business I did send Jim some $$ for posting a vanity. I haven’t posted much recently for various reasons but I read FR daily to keep up and continue to be a supporter both personally and financially. I feel compelled to post about an event that happened here in North Texas last Wednesday. It was put to me that a group of veterans was going to escort a few Medal of Honor winners from DFW to Gainesville for some events over the upcoming week. I was off so I figured I would ride along....