Correction: Earning the Navy Cross is a great honor.
There’s nothing wrong with winning. St. Paul uses the metaphor of winning a race in this sense. Too use two biblical metahpors, he fought the good fight, he put his all into it and won the race.
Perhaps I should have said that “to have been awarded the Navy Cross is a great honor.” No question that he performed heroically. Debbie Schussel seems to gloss over the fact that he was awarded the Navy’s second highest medal, so it was certainly not a case that the board denied that he was a hero.