I am very distressed that despite such tremendous acts of heroism still being performed today, the Pentagon has only seen fit to advance the commendation in posthumous circumstances. And while this is certainly deserved, it denies the American people living heroes to stand among us.
Today in our nation, there is only one living MoH recipient for every three million Americans. The odds of ever seeing or hearing one alive and in person, only keep getting worse. Many Americans, if not most, have no idea what the MoH is, what it stands for, or even what it looks like in the great array of military decorations.
Why does this matter?
MoH recipient General Joe Foss, a leading USMC ace fighter pilot in WWII, returned to a heroes welcome, became an important test pilot and the governor of the State of South Dakota.
The rest of which paled before his being a Medal of Honor recipient.
For the rest of his life, like other MoH recipients, he was the personification of the American hero. He met and spoke with tens of thousands of people, and showed them all what heroism means. Yet he as a person, for the rest of his life, was secondary to the MoH itself, and what it represents.
On January 11, 2002, Joe Foss, then in his mid-80s, was at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, when he was stopped by airport security, and not permitted to board his flight to West Point, to give a speech. This was because his Medal of Honor had sharp points, and “He might use it to try and hijack the aircraft.”
This is the price we pay for being denied living heroes.
Medal of Honor recipient, possibly our leading WWII United States Marine Corps top ace Joe Foss died a year later.
“......the Pentagon has only seen fit to advance the commendation in posthumous circumstances....”
....are you sure about this?...when did it go into effect?
“On January 11, 2002, Joe Foss, then in his mid-80s, was at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, when he was stopped by airport security, and not permitted to board his flight to West Point, to give a speech. This was because his Medal of Honor had sharp points, and “He might use it to try and hijack the aircraft.”
This is the price we pay for being denied living heroes.”
No, its the price we pay for having idiot politically correct globalists running the Country.